Did you know Women’s brains are significantly more active in many more regions than men’s? according to new research by the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
A study by scientists from Amen Clinics in California led the biggest brain imaging survey to date. It compared over 46,000 brain scans from nine clinics and analyzed the differences between male and female brains. The findings could help explain why women are more vulnerable to anxiety, depression, insomnia and eating disorders. When we try to understand these differences are important, the researchers say, because it helps to shed more light on how brain disorders affect men and women differently.
The study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, found that women’s brains were significantly more active in many more areas than men’s, especially in the prefrontal cortex which is involved in focus and impulse control and the limbic or emotional areas of the brain responsible for mood and anxiety.
Lead author Daniel G. Amen, a psychiatrist and founder of Amen Clinics, said: “This is a very important study to help understand gender-based brain differences.
“The quantifiable differences we identified between men and women are important for understanding gender-based risk for brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.”
However, the human brain – regardless of gender – is changeable and notoriously difficult to understand. As Gina Rippon, Professor of Cognitive Imaging at Ashton University, wrote last year:
“The notion that our brains are plastic or malleable and, crucially, remain so throughout our lives is one of the key breakthroughs of the last 40 years in our understanding of the brain. Different short- and long-term experiences will change the brain’s structure. It has also been shown that social attitudes and expectations such as stereotypes can change how your brain processes information. Supposedly brain-based differences in behavioral characteristics and cognitive skills change across time, place and culture due to the different external factors experienced, such as access to education, financial independence, even diet.”
Read more on weforum.org.
