Impairments in choosing optimally between immediate and delayed rewards are associated with numerous psychiatric disorders. Such ‘intertemporal’ choice is influenced by genetic and experiential factors; however, the contributions of biological sex are understudied and data to date are largely inconclusive. Rats were used to determine how sex and gonadal hormones influence choices between small, immediate and large, delayed rewards. Females showed markedly greater preference than males for small, immediate over large, delayed rewards (greater impulsive choice). This difference was neither due to differences in food motivation or reward magnitude perception, nor was it affected by estrous cycle. Ovariectomies did not affect choice in females, whereas orchiectomies increased impulsive choice in males. These data show that male rats exhibit less impulsive choice than females and that this difference is at least partly maintained by testicular hormones. These differences in impulsive choice could be linked to gender differences across multiple neuropsychiatric conditions.

中文翻译：

---

睾丸激素介导大鼠冲动选择的强烈性别差异

在即时奖励和延迟奖励之间进行最佳选择的障碍与许多精神疾病有关。这种“跨期”选择受遗传和经验因素的影响；然而，生物性别的贡献尚未得到充分研究，迄今为止的数据基本上没有定论。大鼠被用来确定性别和性腺激素如何影响小的、即时的和大的、延迟的奖励之间的选择。与男性相比，女性对小的、即时的、延迟的奖励（更大的冲动选择）表现出明显的偏好。这种差异既不是由于食物动机或奖励幅度感知的差异，也不是受发情周期的影响。卵巢切除术不影响女性的选择，而睾丸切除术增加了男性的冲动选择。这些数据表明，雄性大鼠比雌性大鼠表现出更少的冲动选择，并且这种差异至少部分是由睾丸激素维持的。冲动选择的这些差异可能与多种神经精神疾病的性别差异有关。