There is an opinion that the female brain is different from the male. But is it really so? Viktor Komarenko, expert of the super-show “Divovizhnі people” on the channel “Ukraine”, a neurophysiologist, tells.
Who among us has not at least once been interested in or discussed the topic of differences in the brains of men and women? Everyone is familiar with the phrase “women are from Venus, Men are from Mars”. And it seemed that this expression quite illustrates the reality. But… But in fact, this topic is the subject of serious discussions related to solving the problem of equal rights for both sexes. She can be the butt of jokes and often of dubious content.
This topic is also raised in corporations when it is necessary to form effective communication between employees. Therefore, from time to time we look to scientists for answers to questions, so are there sex differences in the structure of the brain and how do they affect the behavior of women and men?
I will say right away that there is no simple answer to this simple question. There are several reasons for this. First, scientists are people too and can be biased about the analysis of their results. For example, one of the pioneers in the study of sex differences in the human brain, the famous French researcher Paul Broca (emphasis in the surname on the letter A) showed that the mass of the male brain is on average 120 g more than the mass of the brain of a woman. For you to understand, 120 g is the average mass of the cerebellum, the part of the brain that maintains balance, and posture and coordinates our movements. But Broca did not take into account the fact that men are usually larger than women in general. If we take this fact into account and calculate the mass of the brain relative to the mass of the body, then we will not find gender differences.
Secondly, there are discussions and disputes between scientists regarding the results obtained in the experiment. And this is normal for researchers if they want to get to the bottom of the truth.
For example, let’s take one of the “typical” differences between women and men, like speaking. Some experiments have shown that in women, more nerve centers in both hemispheres are involved during speech. And in men, only the centers in the left hemisphere show activity. However, other researchers do not observe such patterns in their experiments. They argue that in the subjects of both sexes, only the centers in the left hemisphere were activated during speech. And still, others note that only in girls before adolescence, the activity of the centers of both hemispheres is observed during the speech, and at an older age, only the centers of the left hemisphere control the speech function.
One more example. In 2014, a publication by Madhura Ingalhalikar and co-authors was published stating that women have more neural connections between the hemispheres than men, and in men, nerve contacts within each of the hemispheres predominate. This could explain that women, on average, are more plastic in behavior, they can more easily switch their attention between different tasks (what is popularly called female multitasking). And typical men, on the contrary, as a rule, concentrate better on one task and show less flexibility in thinking, but they are more decisive. One of the criticisms of this work is that the formation of neural contacts/connections occurs throughout our lives through the formation of professional skills, training, physical activity, and the like. And the features of this process are influenced not so much by gender,
The above does not mean that the brain does not have pronounced sex differences. For example, in such a part of the brain as the hypothalamus, there are centers that are responsible for sexual behavior and gender identity. In men and women, their size and number are not the same. Thanks to the activities of these centers, we, regardless of the peculiarities of upbringing and stereotypes about gender roles in society, consider ourselves girls/women or boys/men. This question is interestingly illustrated in the book “We are our brain” by Dick Swaab. The formation of the “female” and “male” brain is decisively influenced by the sex hormones of the fetus, in particular testosterone. Under the influence of the testosterone of the future boy, male signs of the brain are formed. In the absence of this hormone, the brain develops according to the “female” type.
But in the body of women, there are both female and male sex hormones at the same time, just like in men – both male and female. This is one of the arguments why we are not 100% women and men. The ratio of various sex hormones affects the severity of sexual characteristics. You will not argue that there are feminine women and courageous women, there are courageous men and feminine men? This is the norm! That is why most neurophysiologists tend to believe that there are no systemic differences between the brains of women and men. And only up to 10% of people have pronounced signs of a “female” and “male” brain. And this thesis is confirmed by numerous modern observations and experiments.
