Most areas do not differ significantly. Some areas do. Some researchers have noted over 100 areas of the brain that differ somewhat between men and women Usually difference of average performance of large group of women versus men is smaller that the differences between the individuals in each group Difference between lowest and highest women are going to be larger than differences between the average of groups of men and women. Groups do not predict abilities in any single individual.
Google video - Assignment Discovery: The Male and Female Brain - Learn about the differences between the male and female brain on Discovery Channel's "Assignment Discovery.” Hypothalamus - monitors many activities such as hunger, thirst and sex drive also circadian rhythms and sleep. Preoptic area (sex and mating behavior) is 2.2 times larger in men than women. Also 2x the number of cells. Frontal - areas of higher cognitive functioning especially areas for attention and emotional or impulse control Parietal cortex - involved in space perception and sensory organs
Amygdala - controls emotions and social an sexual behavior some say larger in women? Cahill found evidence that sex influences how region is used. Asked groups of men and women to recall emotionally charged images they had been shown earlier. Both consistently recruited the amygdla for the task. However men enlisted the right side and women used the left. Men recalled the gist of the situation and women concentrated on the details. …suggests they process info from emotional events in different ways. Cc - 200-250 million axons of neurons wide band…some studies show that women have larger cc than men. Allows them to have more language in both hemispheres. Multi-tasking? Hippo - consolidating new info in long term memory. Larger in women …may account for difference in navigation. Men navigate by geometric (east north) women by landmarks Pain -women more likely to seek help for cronic pain. Evidence that women expeience more pain than males. (not all studies show difference but when they do always females that show more pain. Research on pain pathways showing that men and women use different pathway and receptors.most studies done on male animals due to less influence of changing horomones. Seritonin- women have about 1/2 as much serotonin…also 2x as likely to be diagnosed with depression. Addiction - females more likely to become addicted to drugs (based on gender studies with mice) this is increased when higher when given oestrogen
Traditional thinking: Sex-specific differences in mammals are determined in the womb by genes on the x and y chromosomes, with the prenatal hormones the fetus is exposed to also playing a role New finding (nov 08)Anthony Auger at U of Wisconsin. found that if the belly of a newborn female rat is stroked for a few hours a day, chemical “caps” will appear on its DNA that make its brain look more like that of a male. Also number of oestrogen receptors in the hypothalamus of stroked females was lower that in un stroked females, and similar to levels found in males. Mother rates spend more time licking and grooming their sons, which previous studies suggest is necessary for their genitalia to form properly. Myths Drawing on hippocampus women offers physical cues (like bakery) men give directional or spatial cues Men are not insensitive…women are better at remembering details surrounding emotional events because their amygdala it tuned in to capture them. Men get the gist Women and men both say 16,000 words a day on average True males mainly secrete testosterone from testes, oestrogen is important to male brain development in the womb. Testosterone is converted into oestradiol which acts on oestrogen receptors and sets the hypothalamus to “male”