Sexual orientation and spatial memory

  1. Cánovas, Rosa
  2. Cimadevilla Redondo, José Manuel
Revista:
Psicothema

ISSN: 0214-9915

Año de publicación: 2011

Volumen: 23

Número: 4

Páginas: 752-758

Tipo: Artículo

DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso abierto editor

Otras publicaciones en: Psicothema

Resumen

Orientación sexual y memoria espacial. El objetivo de este estudio fue determinar la infl uencia de la orientación sexual en el aprendizaje y memoria espacial humana. Los participantes realizaron la prueba «Habitación de las Cajas». En el experimento I, una tarea de memoria de referencia, la posición de las cajas premiadas se mantuvo constante durante toda la sesión. En el experimento II, una tarea de memoria de trabajo, la posición de las cajas premiadas cambiaba de un bloque a otro. Cada bloque se componía de dos ensayos: un ensayo para la adquisición y otro para la recuperación. Los resultados del primer experimento demostraron que los hombres heterosexuales realizaron mejor la tarea que los varones homosexuales y las mujeres heterosexuales, al encontrar las cajas premiadas con mayor rapidez. Además, los participantes homosexuales cometieron más errores que los heterosexuales. El experimento II puso de manifi esto que las capacidades de memoria de trabajo no difi eren. Estos resultados sugieren que la orientación sexual se asocia con la capacidad de navegación espacial, pero sobre todo en los hombres y se limita a la memoria de referencia, que depende más de la función del sistema hipocampal.

Referencias bibliográficas

  • Astur, R.S., Ortiz, M.L., & Sutherland, R.J. (1998). A characterization of performance by men and women in a virtual Morris water task: A large and reliable sex difference. Behavioral Brain Research, 93, 185-190.
  • Astur, R.S., Taylor, L.B., Mamelak, A.N., Philpott, L., & Sutherland, R.J. (2002). Humans with hippocampus damage display severe spatial memory impairments in a virtual Morris water task. Behavioral Brain Research, 132, 77-84.
  • Astur, R.S., Tropp, J., Sava, S., Constable, R.T., & Markus, E.J. (2004). Sex differences and correlations in a virtual Morris water task, a virtual radial arm maze, and mental rotation. Behavioral Brain Research, 151, 103-115.
  • Cánovas, R., Espínola, M., Iribarne, L., & Cimadevilla, J.M. (2008). A new virtual task to evaluate human place learning. Behavioral Brain Research, 190(1), 112-118.
  • Cánovas, R., García, R.F., & Cimadevilla, J.M. (2011). Effect of reference frames and number of cues available on the spatial orientation of males and females in a virtual memory task. Behavioral Brain Research, 216(1), 116-121.
  • Cimadevilla, J.M., Conejo, N., Miranda, R., & Arias, J.L. (2004). Sex differences in the Morris water maze in young rats: Temporal dimensions. Psicothema, 16, 611-614.
  • Cimadevilla, J.M., González-Pardo, H., López, L., Díaz, F., Cueto, E.G., García-Moreno, L.M., & Arias, J.L. (1999). Sex-related differences in spatial learning during the early postnatal development of the rat. Behavioural Processes, 46, 159-171.
  • Driscoll, I., Hamilton, D.A., Yeo, R.A., Brooks, W.M., & Sutherland, R.J. (2005). Virtual navigation in humans: The impact of age, sex and hormones on place learning. Hormones and Behavior, 47, 326-335.
  • Gron, G., Wunderlich, A.P., Spitzer, M., Tomczak, R., & Riepe, M.W. (2000). Brain activation during human navigation: Gender-different neural networks as substrate of performance. Nature Neuroscience, 3, 404-408.
  • Hier, D., & Crowley, W. (1982). Spatial ability in androgen-defi cient men. The New England Journal of Medicine, 306, 1202-1205.
  • Hu, S.H., Wei, N., Wang, Q.D., Yan, L.Q., Wei, E.Q., Zhang, M.M., Hu, J.B., Huang, M.L., Zhou, W.H., & Xu, Y. (2008). Patterns of brain activation during visually evoked sexual arousal differ between homosexual and heterosexual men. American Journal of Neuroradiology, 29, 1890-1896.
  • Isgor, C., & Sengelaub, D.R. (1998). Prenatal gonadal steroids affect adult spatial behavior, CA1 and CA3 pyramidal cell morphology in rats. Hormones and Behaviour, 34, 183-198.
  • Isgor, C., & Sengelaub, D.R. (2003). Effects of neonatal gonadal steroids on adult CA3 pyramidal neuron dendritic morphology and spatial memory in rats. Journal of Neurobiology, 55, 179-190.
  • Kuc, K.A., Gregersen, B.M., Gannon, K.S., & Dodart, J.C. (2006). Holeboard discrimination learning in mice. Genes, Brain and Behavior, 5, 355-363.
  • Levy, L.J., Astur, R.S., & Frick, K.M. (2005). Men and women differ in object memory but not performance of a virtual radial maze. Behavioral Neuroscience, 119, 853-862.
  • Méndez-López, M., Méndez, M., López, L., & Arias, J.L. (2009a). Spatial working memory learning in young male and female rats: involvement of different limbic system regions revealed by cytochrome oxidase activity. Neuroscience Research, 65, 28-34.
  • Méndez-López, M., Méndez, M., López, L., & Arias, J.L. (2009b). Sexually dimorphic c-Fos expression following spatial working memory in young and adult rats. Physiology and Behaviour, 98, 307-317.
  • Morris, R.G.M., Garrud, P., Rawlins, J.N.P., & O'Keefe, J. (1982). Place navigation impaired in rats with hippocampal lesions. Nature, 297, 681-683.
  • Mueller, S.C., Temple, V., Oh, E., VanRyzin, C., Williams, A., Cornwell, B., Grillon, C., Pine, D.S., Ernst, M., & Merke, D.P. (2008). Early androgen exposure modulates spatial cognition in adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). Psychoneuroendocrinology, 33(7), 973-980.
  • Oades, R.D., & Isaacson, R.L. (1978). The development of food search behavior by rats: The effects of hippocampal damage and haloperidol. Behavioral Biology, 24, 327-337.
  • Owen, A.M. (1997). The functional organization of working memory processes within human lateral frontal cortex: The contribution of functional neuroimaging. European Journal of Neuroscience, 9, 1329-1339.
  • Perrot-Sinal, T.S., Kostenuik, M.A., Ossenkopp, K.P., & Kavaliers, M. (1996). Sex differences in performance in the Morris water maze and the effects of initial nonstationary hidden platform training. Behavioral Neuroscience, 110, 309-320.
  • Rahman, Q., Andersson, D., & Govier, E. (2005). A specifi c sexual orientation-related difference in navigation strategy. Behavioral Neuroscience, 119(1), 311-316.
  • Rahman, Q., & Koerting, J. (2008). Sexual orientation-related differences in allocentric spatial memory tasks. Hippocampus, 18, 55-63.
  • Risk, A., Robertson, J., & Raber, J. (2005). Behavioral performance of tfm mice supports the benefi cial role of androgen receptors in spatial learning and memory. Brain Research, 1034, 132-138.
  • Roof, R.L., & Havens, M.D. (1992). Testosterone improves maze performance and induces development of a male hippocampus in females. Brain Research, 572, 310-313.
  • Saucier, D.M., Green, S.M., Leason, J., MacFadden, A., Bell, S., & Elias, L.J. (2002). Are sex differences in navigation caused by sexually dimorphic strategies or by differences in the ability to use the strategies? Behavioral Neuroscience, 116, 403-410.
  • Williams, C.L., Barnett, A.M., & Meck, W.H. (1990). Organizational effect of early gonadal secretions on sexual differentiation in spatial memory. Behavioral Neuroscience, 53, 1021-1024.
Fuente de los datos: Dialnet