Quantcast
ZME Science
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
    Menu
    Natural Sciences
    Health
    History & Humanities
    Space & Astronomy
    Technology
    Culture
    Resources
    Natural Sciences

    Physics

    • Matter and Energy
    • Quantum Mechanics
    • Thermodynamics

    Chemistry

    • Periodic Table
    • Applied Chemistry
    • Materials
    • Physical Chemistry

    Biology

    • Anatomy
    • Biochemistry
    • Ecology
    • Genetics
    • Microbiology
    • Plants and Fungi

    Geology and Paleontology

    • Planet Earth
    • Earth Dynamics
    • Rocks and Minerals
    • Volcanoes
    • Dinosaurs
    • Fossils

    Animals

    • Mammals
    • Birds
    • Fish
    • Reptiles
    • Amphibians
    • Invertebrates
    • Pets
    • Conservation
    • Animals Facts

    Climate and Weather

    • Climate Change
    • Weather and Atmosphere

    Geography

    Mathematics

    Health
    • Drugs
    • Diseases and Conditions
    • Human Body
    • Mind and Brain
    • Food and Nutrition
    • Wellness
    History & Humanities
    • Anthropology
    • Archaeology
    • Economics
    • History
    • People
    • Sociology
    Space & Astronomy
    • The Solar System
    • The Sun
    • The Moon
    • Planets
    • Asteroids, Meteors and Comets
    • Astronomy
    • Astrophysics
    • Cosmology
    • Exoplanets and Alien Life
    • Spaceflight and Exploration
    Technology
    • Computer Science & IT
    • Engineering
    • Inventions
    • Sustainability
    • Renewable Energy
    • Green Living
    Culture
    • Culture and Society
    • Bizarre Stories
    • Lifestyle
    • Art and Music
    • Gaming
    • Books
    • Movies and Shows
    Resources
    • How To
    • Science Careers
    • Metascience
    • Fringe Science
    • Science Experiments
    • School and Study
    • Natural Sciences
    • Health
    • History and Humanities
    • Space & Astronomy
    • Culture
    • Technology
    • Resources
  • Reviews
  • More
    • Agriculture
    • Anthropology
    • Biology
    • Chemistry
    • Electronics
    • Geology
    • History
    • Mathematics
    • Nanotechnology
    • Economics
    • Paleontology
    • Physics
    • Psychology
    • Robotics
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

Home → Health → Mind & Brain

Men and women’s brains are hard wired differently, study shows

Mihai Andrei by Mihai Andrei
January 6, 2014
in Mind & Brain, News

Neural map of a typical man’s brain. Credits: National Academy of Sciences/PA

A new study which involved the analysis of over 1.000 brain scans confirmed what many intuitively believed for a long time: men and women’s brains are hard wired differently.

Maps of neural circuitry showed that on average women’s brains were highly connected across the left and right hemispheres, while men had better connections between the front and back areas of the brain. Surprisingly or not, these findings support the stereotypical ideas that men generally have improved perception and coordination, while women have better social skills.

Neural map of a typical woman’s brain. Photograph: National Academy of Sciences/PA

Ragini Verma, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, explains:

“If you look at functional studies, the left of the brain is more for logical thinking, the right of the brain is for more intuitive thinking. So if there’s a task that involves doing both of those things, it would seem that women are hardwired to do those better,” Verma said. “Women are better at intuitive thinking. Women are better at remembering things. When you talk, women are more emotionally involved – they will listen more.”

She then adds:

“I was surprised that it matched a lot of the stereotypes that we think we have in our heads. If I wanted to go to a chef or a hairstylist, they are mainly men.”

This is the biggest study to date that documents the differences between the brains of men and women. In addition from showing the gender differences, this also gave researchers a better picture of what happens in the brain for each sex at various ages. They hope that this can provide a better understanding of what happens at a neural level to patients suffering from brain disorders such as schizophrenia and depression.

Verma’s team used a technique called diffusion tensor imaging. Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is a well-established magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method for diagnosing problems such as cerebral ischemia. It allows the mapping of the diffusion process of molecules, mainly water, in biological tissues, in vivo and non-invasively.

They looked at the brain scans of 428 males and 521 females aged eight to 22. The neural connections are basically a road system through which the brain carries out its traffic. The scans clearly showed significant differences, the most noticeable being greater connectivity between the left and right sides of the brain in women, while the connections in men were mostly confined to individual hemispheres. The only area of the brain where males had better inter-hemisphere connectivity is the cerebellum, which plays a vital role in motor control.

“If you want to learn how to ski, it’s the cerebellum that has to be strong,” Verma said.

The differences didn’t become noticeable by the age of 13, but clearly showed up on ages 14-17.

“It’s quite striking how complementary the brains of women and men really are,” Ruben Gur, a co-author on the study, said in a statement. “Detailed connectome maps of the brain will not only help us better understand the differences between how men and women think, but it will also give us more insight into the roots of neurological disorders, which are often sex-related.”

Journal Reference:

Madhura Ingalhalikar et al. Sex differences in the structural connectome of the human brain.  PNAS December 2, 2013, doi:10.1073/pnas.1316909110 

Was this helpful?


Thanks for your feedback!

Related posts:
  1. The brains of people with excellent general knowledge are more efficiently wired
  2. Our brains may be naturally wired for multilingualism, being ‘blind’ to changes between languages
  3. Men and women feel pain differently — and this study may finally explain why
  4. Our brains may be wired to think logarithmically – not linearly
  5. We’re closer to understanding how autistic brains process faces differently, thanks to artificial intelligence
Tags: braindiffusion-weighted imagingneural connectionneural pathwayneuron

ADVERTISEMENT
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • Reviews
  • More
  • About Us

© 2007-2021 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
    • Natural Sciences
    • Health
    • History and Humanities
    • Space & Astronomy
    • Culture
    • Technology
    • Resources
  • Reviews
  • More
    • Agriculture
    • Anthropology
    • Biology
    • Chemistry
    • Electronics
    • Geology
    • History
    • Mathematics
    • Nanotechnology
    • Economics
    • Paleontology
    • Physics
    • Psychology
    • Robotics
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2021 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

Don’t you want to get smarter every day?

YES, sign me up!

Over 35,000 subscribers can’t be wrong. Don’t worry, we never spam. By signing up you agree to our privacy policy.

✕
ZME Science News

FREE
VIEW