Question

Read the assigned article (Pre-natal hormone exposure and sexual variation) and use it to answer the following questions. We are looking for very short but accurate and complete answers.

4. Human girls born with CAH will show what type of behavior as adults?

5. If they are born with CAH and treated with adrenal-androgen-blocking drugs after birth, what type of behavior will they show as adults?

6. What is hormonal organization of behavior?

Answer 1

ANSWERS

1) CAH (Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia) results inhigh levels of adrenal androgens during gestation and throughout life. Girls with CAH show increased male-like behaviors. They are more likely than their sisters to play with boy’s toys and to show aggressive behavior, and less likely to show interest in infants.

2) If treated after birth, many girls with CAH show a reduction in male hormone levels, but retain male-like behaviors. Researchers have shown that these behavioral effects result from prenatal hormone exposure and not from postnatal, pre-treatment exposure.

3) The genes and environment work together to produce an organism. Specific genes are only turned on when the environment of the cell, tissue, organ or organism calls for them. In case of of sexual characteristics, one mechanism by which environmental variables exert their influence is through the activity of hormones. The hormones affect development in the womb, producing differences that later manifest themselves in adult morphology, physiology and sex-related behavior.