The relationship between serum testosterone and visuomotor learning in hand skill in right-handed young women

Abstract

The relationship between serum testosterone level and motor learning in hand skill was studied in right-handed young women. Hand skill was assessed by a peg moving task. Subjects were required to shift 25 pegs from one of two parallel rows to the corresponding holes as fast as possible, first with right and then with left hand. One trial consisted of the time elapsed to move 25 pegs with one hand. Ten trials were performed by each hand. Peg moving times for the right and left hands linearly decreased at each successive trial (visuomotor learning). Subjects were divided into two subgroups as those having serum testosterone concentrations below and above the mean. The right hand skill and its motor learning was found to be better in subjects with low testosterone than those with high testosterone. The left hand skill was better in subjects with low testosterone than those with high testosterone; there was no significant difference in the left-hand learning in subjects with low and high testosterone (parallel regression lines). Motor learning linearly decreased with testosterone for the right hand, not for the left hand. These results seem to be in accord with the testosterone theory of cerebral lateralization (Geschwind & Behan, 1982).

Key Words:

• Testosterone
• hand skill
• motor learning
• cerebral lateralization
• brain