Slide 1

Are there gender differences in brain structure? paul j whalen, phd university of wisconsin - madison www.whalenlab.info Projects funded by NIMH, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, & NARSAD Taylor Slide 2 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 Slide 3 Slide 4 scanner Slide 5 Slide 6 Slide 7 Slide 8 Slide 9 Whats your N? Slide 10 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 Slide 11 The problem with post hoc explanations Slide 12 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 Slide 13 Cahill et al 2004 Slide 14 What about structural differences in the brain? Slide 15 malesfemales Range = 2.159 - 2.164 Range = 2.165-2.170 Luders 2004 Slide 16 What about my work? Slide 17 Slide 18 shady Slide 19 Slide 20 r =.70 p =.00021 Valence Ratings of Surprised Faces VN N NN P VP Response to Surprised vs. Neutral Faces (z-score) R L Slide 21 r =.70 p =.00021 Valence Ratings of Surprised Faces VN N NN P VP Response to Surprised vs. Neutral Faces (z-score) R L Slide 22 Where are your predictions coming from? Slide 23 Women were chosen in this study because they are more likely to report intense emotional experiences Canli et al 2000 Slide 24 Enhanced occipital and anterior cingulate activation in men but not in women during exposure to angry and fearful male faces. Fischer et al 2004 Slide 25 Sometimes predictions come from observed incidence of pathology across genders Slide 26 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 Slide 27 Depression > Females Slide 28 Autism > Males Slide 29 Slide 30 The second empirical problem is that girls are persisting longer and longer. Lawrence H Summers NBER conference January 14, 2005 Slide 31 The second empirical problem is that girls are persisting longer and longer. Lawrence H Summers NBER conference January 14, 2005 Slide 32 I would like nothing better than to be proved wrong... Lawrence H Summers NBER conference January 14, 2005