Sex differences in human behavior show adaptive complementarity: Males have better motor and spatial abilities, whereas females have superior memory and social cognition skills. Studies also show sex differences in human brains but do not explain this complementarity. In this work, we modeled the structural connectome using diffusion tensor imaging in a sample of 949 youths (aged 8–22 y, 428 males and 521 females) and discovered unique sex differences in brain connectivity during the course of development. Connection-wise statistical analysis, as well as analysis of regional and global network measures, presented a comprehensive description of network characteristics. In all supratentorial regions, males had greater within-hemispheric connectivity, as well as enhanced modularity and transitivity, whereas between-hemispheric connectivity and cross-module participation predominated in females. However, this effect was reversed in the cerebellar connections. Analysis of these changes developmentally demonstrated differences in trajectory between males and females mainly in adolescence and in adulthood. Overall, the results suggest that male brains are structured to facilitate connectivity between perception and coordinated action, whereas female brains are designed to facilitate communication between analytical and intuitive processing modes.
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Sunday 6 July 2014
Sex differences in the structural connectome of the human brain
Sex differences in the structural connectome of the human brain Ingalhalikar et al PNAS ; published ahead of print December 2, 2013
3 comments:
Anonymous commenters - please add a signature (doesn't have to be your real name) on each post of yours. Anne O'Namus, Norm D. Ploom, Angry from Kent, Demosthenes, or even your real initials, it doesn't matter.
Commenters are expected to be polite to each other, but the same standard doesn't apply to comments regarding me.
Australian commenters are very very strongly advised to publish anonymously. Sydney alone has more defamation actions than the entire USA and UK. Nearly double that of the UK in fact.
As Google does not reliably inform me that a comment has been posted, and I have no control over first publication, I assert that all comments are innocently disseminated under the NSW DEFAMATION ACT 2005 - SECT 32 and similar acts.
Zoe, when do you think scientists conducting this sort of research will begin to understand that their category labels aren't particularly that accurate.
ReplyDeleteI get very annoyed when I hear the kind of thing mentioned here that "males tended to ..." and "females on the other hand ..." If my brain were used before age 30 I'd have been categorised as 'male' yet if it was used now it would be 'female'.
When will they begin to describe their labels in congruence with what we know about transsexuals ... that some biological males can have typically feminine brains and some biological females can have typically 'masculine' brains ... not male and female brains ...)
When will they begin to describe their labels in congruence with what we know about transsexuals
ReplyDeleteWe can only hope....
Well, quite frankly, I'm a hybrid. Male and female characteristics superimposed and layered over each other.
ReplyDeleteCrissy S