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Are there gender differences in
brain structure?
paul j whalen, phd
www.whalenlab.info
Taylor
Projects funded by NIMH, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, & NARSAD
university of wisconsin - madison
1. the high-powered job hypothesis
2. different availability of aptitude at the high
end
3. different socialization and patterns of
discrimination in a search
Lawrence H Summers
NBER conference
January 14, 2005
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•What’s your N?
In the present study, a cross-sectional
design was used with healthy children
(n=7), adolescents (n= 12), and adults
(n= 10) who underwent functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
during a task that required perceiving
fearful faces. Males and females differed
in the asymmetry of activation of the
amygdala and prefrontal cortex across
the three age groups.
Killgore et al 2004
•The problem with post hoc explanations
•Recognition memory test 3 weeks after
scanning.
•highly emotional pictures were
remembered best, and remembered
better by women than by men.
• Men activated significantly more
structures than women in a network that
included the right amygdala.
•Women activated significantly fewer
structures in a network that included the
left amygdala.
Canli et al 2002
Cahill et al 2004
•What about structural differences in the brain?
males
Range = 2.159 - 2.164
Luders 2004
females
Range = 2.165-2.170
•What about my work?
shady
L
Valence Ratings of Surprised Faces
R
VN
9
8
N
7
6
NN 5
4
P
3
r = .70
p = .00021
2
VP 1
-1.0
-.5
0.0
.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
Response to Surprised vs. Neutral Faces (z-score)
L
Valence Ratings of Surprised Faces
R
VN
9
8
N
7
6
NN
5
4
P
3
r = .70
p = .00021
2
VP
1
-1.0
-.5
0.0
.5
1.0
1.5
Response to Surprised vs. Neutral Faces (z-score)
2.0
•Where are your predictions coming from?
Women were chosen in this study because
they are more likely to report intense
emotional experiences
Canli et al 2000
Enhanced occipital and anterior cingulate
activation in men but not in women
during exposure to angry and fearful
male faces.
Fischer et al 2004
•Sometimes predictions come from observed
incidence of pathology across genders
Unpleasant words associated with body
image activated left medial prefrontal
cortex and hippocampus only among
men - the left amygdala was activated
only among women
Shirao et al 2005
Depression > Females
Depression > Females
Autism > Males
The second empirical problem is that girls are
persisting longer and longer.
Lawrence H Summers
NBER conference
January 14, 2005
The second empirical problem is that girls are
persisting longer and longer.
Lawrence H Summers
NBER conference
January 14, 2005
I would like nothing better than to be proved
wrong . . .
Lawrence H Summers
NBER conference
January 14, 2005