A curvilinear relationship between hair loss and mental rotation and neuroticism: a possible influence of sustained dihydrotestosterone production
John R. Beech
Personality and Individual Differences, 31(2):185-1922001
Summary (paraphrased)
Observational psychology study using hair loss as a proxy for sustained DHT exposure over time. Reported an inverted-U (curvilinear) relationship between cumulative DHT levels and mental-rotation performance, peaking at moderate DHT and declining at both high and low extremes, plus a similar curvilinear pattern for neuroticism — suggesting both very high and very low DHT production could relate to emotional stability. Small, closed-access paper with few citations; an indirect but suggestive data point on lifelong DHT exposure and cognition.
Why it’s in the corpus
One of few papers probing links between sustained DHT exposure and cognition/mood — provides background mechanistic context for the cognitive and emotional effects reported with finasteride's DHT suppression.