Male Brains, Androgen, and the Cognitive Profile in Autism: Convergent Evidence from 2D:4D and Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia

The Extreme Male Brain (‘EMB’) theory of autism and the related proposal concerning elevated prenatal androgen (‘EPA’), account elegantly for some core features of autism, in particular those relating to social cognition. However, our recent findings suggest that other aspects of cognitive performance in autism are neither best characterized as an extreme form of the male profile, nor are determined by prenatal androgens. These results challenge EMB theory, and, together with convergent evidence from studies of Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (‘CAH’), also provide an effective challenge to the proposal that autism is triggered by elevated prenatal androgen. …