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Hormonal effects on the plasticity of cognitive brain functions
Author(s) -
Hausmann Markus
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
wiley interdisciplinary reviews: cognitive science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.526
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1939-5086
pISSN - 1939-5078
DOI - 10.1002/wcs.21
Subject(s) - cognition , hormone , glutamate receptor , neuroscience , neuroplasticity , psychology , crosstalk , effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance , affect (linguistics) , receptor , medicine , communication , physics , optics
Abstract Sex hormones have powerful neuronal actions in the brain and affect the interaction between functionally linked cortical areas within and across cerebral hemispheres, probably via their neuromodulatory properties on gamma‐aminobutyric acid and glutamate receptors. Menstrual cycle‐related dynamic fluctuations in functional cerebral asymmetries and interhemispheric crosstalk have been shown to be a useful experimental model to investigate the activating effects of sex hormones on cognitive brain functions, particularly those of estradiol and progesterone. Besides a better understanding of sex hormonal effects on cognitive brain functions, this research may significantly contribute to addressing the question of whether sex differences in cognitive brain functioning truly exist and where they originate from. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This article is categorized under: Psychology > Brain Function and Dysfunction Neuroscience > Cognition