Performance Differences Between Adult Heterosexual and Homosexual Men on the Digit-Symbol Substitution Subtest of the WAIS-R

Abstract

Previous evidence suggests that sexual orientation influences performance on a number of cognitive functions known to be sexually dimorphic. This investigation examined the performance of 240 right-handed subjects (60 heterosexual men, 60 homosexual men, 60 heterosexual women and 60 homosexual women) on one of the most commonly used neuropsychological tests to show normative sex differences, the Digit-Symbol Substitution test of the WAIS-R. Analysis of scaled Digit-Symbol scores revealed that heterosexual women and homosexual men outperformed heterosexual men. The magnitude of these differences were modest by standard criteria. No differences were found between heterosexual and homosexual women. The findings implicate within-sex variation in one test that relies on intact executive function.