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Differences in How Men and Women Use Their Brains

Research performed at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore has revealed that when men and women have to come up with the same answer, they use different parts of their brains to achieve that answer.

Although older studies have speculated about gender differences in brain function, this study, headed by researcher Amy Clements, forms an underlying foundation for understanding early developmental preferences that may mark clear distinctions between boys and girls in their formative years.

While studies of the past have failed to match male and female subjects in the scope of performance ability, this study, published in Brain and Language, solved those shortcomings by evaluating the brain utilization patterns of 15 men and 15 women who performed equally well on the same language and visual-spatial tasks.

In the language testing, the task was to determine which of two four-letter nonsense word strings rhymed. In the visual-spatial testing, the subjects had to determine if a pair of yellow lines was in alignment with two highlighted yellow lines shown among blue lines in a fan pattern.

To measure the brain activity of the participants, researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify any distinct differences in which areas of the brain were used to solve the tests.

The fMRI Results

It was revealed that women’s brains showed more bilateral activation of a brain region during the language test than the men’s, whose scans indicated more activity lateralized to the left side of their brains.

And with the visual-spatial testing, the opposite was true. The men’s scans displayed more bilateral activation in another area while processing visual information than females, whose scans showed more lateralized activity to the right side of their brains.

These results can provide scientists with a new understanding of how to improve mainstream educational programs for males and females. In addition, researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore speculate that their results may provide explanation for gender differences that are caused by developmental, hormonal, or sociological factors.

Women’s Brain Are Affected By Their Fertility Cycle

In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists have shown that female hormones affect the reward system in very specific ways during particular parts of their fertility cycle.

The testing used functional magnetic resonance imaging or fMRI to get real-time images of the brain activity of 15 women playing an imaginary slot machine game, which showed their brain responses changed in anticipation of a payout depending on the phases of their menstrual cycles.

During testing, various areas of the brain lit up in anticipation of a payout -- a reward -- depending on the menstrual cycle phase. For example, during the midfollicular phase, which comes four to eight days after menstrual bleeding starts, the orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala of the brain were more active.

Dr. Karen Berman of the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health emphasized that it’s important to keep in mind that women have very important regulatory areas and homeostatic mechanisms that keep us functioning, focused and productive.

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Sources: Do Women Really Have More Bilateral Language Representation Than Men? A meta-analysis of functional imaging studies Brain Vol. 127, No. 8, 1845-1852 August 2004 Sex Differences in Cerebral Laterality of Language and Visuospatial Processing Brain and Language 2006 Aug;98(2):150-8 Sex Differences in the Functional Organization of the Brain for Language Nature 1995 Feb 16;373(6515):607-9 Modulation of Cognition-Specific Cortical Activity by Gonadal Steroids: A positron-emission tomography study in women Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences August 5, 1997 vol. 94 no. 16 8836-8841 Functional Anatomy of Visuo-spatial Working Memory During Mental Rotation is Influenced by Sex, Menstrual cycle, and Sex Steroid Hormones Neuropsychologia 2007 Nov 5;45(14):3203-14

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