Equal ≠ the same: sex differences in the human brain

Abstract

While advances in brain imaging confirm that men and women think in their own way and that their brains are different, the biomedical community mainly uses male animals as testing subjects with the assumption that sex differences in the brain hardly matter. This month's Cerebrum highlights some of the thinking and research that invalidates that assumption.

Figure 1.

Effect of Childhood Gender Socialization on Adult Gendered Behavior by Level of Prenatal Androgen Exposure. Sex hormones (androgens, estrogens and progestins) operate in both males and females; in the brain, both sexes have receptors for these hormones that are found not just in brain areas associated with reproduction and related behaviors (eg hypothalamus) but in virtually all brain areas, including those involved in higher cognitive functions. These hormones, receptors for which are found not only in the cell nucleus, but also in many other cellular compartments often near membranes, influence many neurobiological events via the genome, epigenome and non-genomic cellular signaling. The process of sexual differentiation involves virtually the whole brain and is a seamless ongoing interaction over the lifecourse between hormones and experiences.