Contents
It has been proven that the female brain is about 8-12 percent smaller than the male one, which, however, does not at all mean that the representatives of the weaker sex are dumber by nature. However, there is a difference. Some things male and female brains perceive differently. Researchers have learned why this happens and what is the main difference between the brain of a man and a woman.
Are there differences
For centuries, disputes about the difference in thinking, behavior and perception of situations by men and women have not ceased. But if earlier discussions were more like accusations, behind which there is nothing, then today this topic can be seriously debated, based on real scientific facts.
For the most part, gender differences between a man and a woman are the result of structural features and the functioning of the brain. It is on him that the cognitive and behavioral differences inherent in both sexes depend. There was a time when researchers even talked about the “field” of the brain. Supporters of this theory argued that the brain of all men works according to a generalized scheme, while the gray matter of all women has its own unified “program”.
True, over time, this theory had to be abandoned. This is because, as it turned out, there are almost no purely “female” or purely “male” brain types in nature. Although the fact that the “control center” of the weaker and stronger sex has some gender characteristics, scientists do not deny.
For many years, an international team of researchers has observed the behavior of almost 500 thousand people of different ages, and also studied approximately 2,5 thousand MRI images of the brains of men and women aged 44 to 77 years. This allowed scientists to make a number of amazing discoveries. The specialists were able to explore and measure 68 different parts of the central nervous system. The results showed that in women the cerebral cortex is usually thicker than in men, but in the stronger sex the brain is larger in size.
Weight and volume
The first and most obvious distinguishing feature between the male and female brains is the physiological structure of the organ. Firstly, in men, it is about 100 g heavier, and also larger in volume. True, researchers often explain this fact not so much by the characteristics of the organ itself, but by the general physiological characteristics of the human body.
Men’s bodies are, in principle, larger and more voluminous than women’s. Perhaps that is why the brain of the stronger sex is larger. According to the data of modern science, this characteristic does not affect cognitive or other abilities in any way. Think of the Neanderthal brain. He was much more weighty than modern man. But did it make him smarter? Therefore, experts emphasize that for the good functioning of the brain, it is not the volume and weight that is important, but the quality of connections between neurons.
It is also interesting that different parts of the male and female brain also differ in parameters. For example, in young women, the right frontal pole, the triangular part, the lower and middle frontal gyrus, the temporal plane, the anterior part of the cingulate gyrus and the left parahippocampal, the parietal operculum, the insular cortex, the thalamus, the Heschl gyrus, the precuneus, and also the lateral part of the occipital bark. The male sex is larger than the hippocampus, tonsils, posterior cingulate and anterior parahippocampal gyri, temporal poles, putamen, and some areas of the cerebellum.
Development of the hemispheres
Probably, many people know that the left hemisphere of the brain is responsible for rational thinking, logic and the ability to analyze. The right controls emotions and intuition. Both are developed differently in men and women. Most likely, most of those reading these lines thought that the left side of the brain is more developed in the male, and the right – in the female. And they were wrong.
The hemispheres of the brain in men and women are actually developed differently. Even in the womb, the left hemisphere develops more slowly in boys, but the right hemisphere “gains weight” relatively quickly. Experts suggest that this is due to the effects of testosterone. But for women, both hemispheres are equally involved in the work. As a result, it is easier for women to manage the skills characteristic of the left hemisphere (verbal skills, communication), and for men, the abilities controlled by the right side of the brain (active action, competition) are more developed.
This feature of the structure of the brain affects the ability of the sexes to show spatial and social skills. Men are more focused on the development of spatial thinking, it is easier for them to perceive reality and quickly coordinate their actions with it. The structure of the female brain is designed to develop social skills, work in an analytical and intuitive mode, as well as multitasking (performing several tasks at the same time).
There is also a difference at the cellular level. In the brain of women, nerve cells are denser to each other than in men. And this feature is crucial when it comes to the speed of signaling between different parts of the brain. In addition, in men, separate areas within the hemisphere “communicate” more closely, while in women, interhemispheric connections are more developed. This is due to the fact that in young ladies the right and left hemispheres are connected by denser nerve fibers than in men. This factor affects the features, which we will talk about later.
Verbal skills
The fact that all women are great lovers of talking, they even make up jokes. But as it turns out, the desire to chat with the fair sex is inherent in nature itself. And again, it’s all about the structural features of the central nervous system.
We have already said that the cerebral hemispheres of the sexes are developed differently. Hence the difference in working with verbal information. To “digest” what they hear, women use both hemispheres at once (including the left one, which is responsible for the perception of verbal information). Men tend to do it predominantly right.
In addition (and we also already talked about this), both hemispheres in the female body are connected with the help of powerful nerve fibers, due to which there is a more efficient exchange of information. In the male head, nature used finer fibers for this purpose. By the way, it is precisely the structural features of the fibers that connect the hemispheres that doctors explain why women, as a rule, are easier to restore verbal skills (speech) after a stroke.
This same feature of brain design explains why boys begin to speak and read later than girls.
But why did nature decide that the verbal skills of both sexes should be developed differently? The theory explaining these differences was put forward by the American psychologist J. Levy. According to his hypothesis, the reason for everything is evolutionary processes. The main task of the primitive man was to hunt. And for this it was vitally important for him to navigate well in space, and not to talk.
As for the woman, even in the Stone Age she was the keeper of the hearth, took care of children and created family comfort. It was important to exchange experience, to resolve issues with other women. And in this she was helped by communication skills, which in the course of evolution were more improved along with the left hemisphere of the brain.
Perception
Did you know that women have more developed hearing, smell and taste buds? But nature has endowed men (hunters in essence) with the ability to better distinguish between small moving objects. And in these differences, the main role was also played by the features of the functioning of the brain.
Another difference is the different perception of colors. Remember the joke where a man sees all dresses in blue, but for a woman it is more than a dozen fundamentally different shades? So, do not rush to laugh at your husband if once again he does not see color differences between two, say, red things. The fact is that this is how the male brain is arranged – it simply does not perceive certain shades as sharply as women. Take at least orange. Any young lady will not only clearly see orange among the color spots, but will also be able to recognize several orange shades. But for the male brain, orange always looks more like red. In addition, it is difficult for the stronger sex to capture the difference between shades of yellow, blue and green.
Stress
Male and female brains react differently to stress. In a state of emotional shock in men, the left hemisphere, which is responsible for rational thinking, is activated, while the right hemisphere remains in a state of calm for this time. As for women, in stressful situations, they, on the contrary, activate the right side of the brain, which is responsible for emotions.
For this reason, men under stress tend to remember the details of the incident itself, and women tend to remember the emotions caused by it. In addition, in the course of a scientific experiment, it was proved that the young ladies better remember the events that caused them a surge of emotions. And this is the answer to the eternal question of men, why women pester them: “How? Do you remember what day it is?!” It’s simple: the reason is not that a man is bad and has forgotten about something, it’s just that his brain classifies events and memories associated with them according to a different system.
Memory
By the way, about memory. In most women, it really is better than in men. But only up to a certain age. After menopause, when the concentration of estrogen in the female body decreases, memory deteriorates sharply. With a change in the hormonal background, women lose their superiority over men in terms of memory, and in old age, both sexes are “equal”. In addition, in menopausal women, the ability to learn and assimilate new information is reduced, it can be difficult to remember what she knew and remembered well before. Therefore, in old age, women are more prone to cognitive impairment, including dementia, than men.
In 2016, researchers found that women perform better than men on word memory and language proficiency tests. But what is most interesting, in some cases, this ability of the female brain does its owner a disservice. The fact is that the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, as a rule, are diagnosed with the help of just such tests – for memorizing words. So it turns out that the female brain, which has a good verbal memory, can mask the initial stage of the disease. For this reason, diagnosing the early stage of Alzheimer’s in women is much more difficult than in the stronger sex.
Teamwork
Studies have shown that women and men adapt differently to working in a team. The fair sex is more prone to what is jokingly called “friends against someone.” Women easily unite in groups only if they understand that other women are watching their behavior. Under normal circumstances, it can be quite difficult for two ladies to find a common language. It is much easier for men to work in pairs, although studies show that the stronger sex is more inclined to work in a large team than to break into “groups”. It is also interesting that if a couple of a man and a woman have to work on the same project, then the lady is usually more friendly and ready for peaceful cooperation, which cannot be said about her colleague.
In addition, the researchers compared brain activity and teamwork efficiency. It turned out that the performance of men and women is regulated by different groups of neurons, so the efficiency of work is higher in same-sex groups of partners. Compared to the male, the female brain is able to quickly and easily change from one task to another. The strong sex requires quite a lot of energy and effort to switch between tasks, it is difficult for men to simultaneously perform several tasks.
sexual behavior
The saying that men love with their eyes has a very real scientific justification. The male brain is programmed in such a way that it perceives visual images better. Smells also work well on the strong floor. That’s the whole secret of how to win the favor of the male.
The female brain is tuned differently and tends to evaluate a sexual partner in a complex way. Evolution has made sure that a woman subconsciously chooses a mate, given how healthy offspring he can give her.
Our brain shrinks in different ways
The volume of the brain is not a static indicator. With age (after about 30 years), the body begins to dry out. For a year, a person can lose up to 0,2% of the total volume of gray matter. Thus, by the age of 70, the brain may weigh about 200 g less than at 25 years of age. But interestingly, the brain shrinks differently in different sexes.
In 2016, Finnish scientists found in a study that women’s brains age faster than men’s. Moreover, this trend persists throughout life, starting at about 35 years. Experts have determined which parts of the brain shrink the most. As it turned out, this process in men and women proceeds according to different schemes.
The male brain loses volume over the years, mainly due to the drying up of the frontal and temporal lobes of the organ. They are responsible for emotional and cognitive functions. The female is reduced due to the hippocampus and parietal lobe involved in visual and spatial perception, memory function and language learning.
To date, experts have no consensus on how these age-related changes affect overall health. Scientists suggest that it is these transformations that are the reason why older women are more prone to Alzheimer’s disease, and men are more often diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
So why are we so different
There is no single answer that would explain why there are differences between the male and female brains. According to one theory, sex chromosomes are to blame. But according to most researchers, their role in the differentiation of the sexes is far from being the most important. Hormones such as estrogen, progesterone and androgens play a more serious role in the functioning of the brain. Scientists also agree that what the adult brain will be like depends largely on the conditions in which the child grows up, as well as on nutrition. It has also been proven that the structure of the brain, its performance during life can change under the influence of certain external circumstances and experience. That is why it is difficult for scientists to determine with accuracy which of the differences between the male and female brains are innate and which are acquired.
Modern researchers know much more about the structure and functioning of the brain than their colleagues did 150 or even 50 years ago. But the scientific world agrees: even this information is not enough to solve all the mysteries of the human brain. Research continues, and who knows what scientists will discover in the near future: even more differences between the male and female thought centers, or, conversely, facts confirming our similarities.