Difference Between the Male & Female Brain
The human brain is very complex and researchers have a long way to go before they understand all of the similarities and differences between the brains of men and women. It has been observed that men often have slightly larger brains than women, but this has been attributed to the fact that men tend to have larger bodies and has nothing to do with intelligence. As scientists continue to unravel the mysteries of the brain it will be interesting to see if the behavioral differences often noted between men and women are in fact the result of physical differences.
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Preoptic Hypothalamus
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Scientists don't know exactly how the preoptic hypothalamus works, but they do know that it plays a role in the mating behavior exhibited by humans and other animals. The preoptic hypothalamus is the same in human males and females until the age of 4. At 4 years of age, the number of cells in the preoptic hypothalamus begins to decrease in girls. The result is that this part of the brain contains twice as many cells in men than in women and is 2.2 times larger in adult males than females.
Suprachiasmatic Nucleus of the Hypothalamus
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The suprachiasmatic nucleus is the part of the hypothalamus that controls the reproductive cycles and circadian rhythms of the body. This part of the brain is shaped differently in women and men. In men the suprachiasmatic nucleus is round, or spherical in shape. In women, this nucleus is elongated and more oval in shape. In spite of the difference in shape, the suprachiasmatic nuclei of both men and women contain the same number of cells.
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Inferior-Parietal Lobe
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The inferior-parietal lobe is located directly above the ears. The left side of the inferior-parietal lobe contributes to an individual's ability to judge speed and time and is known to have been very large in many physicists and mathematicians, including Albert Einstein. The right side of the inferior-parietal lobe contributes to the way in which a person understands emotions, spatial relationships and information received from the body's senses. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have discovered that the left side of the inferior-parietal lobe is larger than the right in men and smaller than the right in women. The size variation between the left and right sides of the inferior-parietal lobe is smaller in men than in women.
Corpus Collasum
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The corpus callosum is an area of fibrous tissue that connects the left and right sides of the brain. Because of studies published in reliable news media such as Time and Newsweek, it has been believed for many years that the corpus callosum is larger in women than it is in men. More recent studies, however, seem to indicate that the corpus callosum is the same size in men and women. More research is needed to satisfactorily determine which group of studies is correct.
Language Processing
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Language is processed in the frontal part of the brain in both men and women, A research team led by Dr. Bennett A. Shaywitz, a professor of pediatric medicine at Yale University, observed that men and women process language differently. Women use both the left and right sides of the brain simultaneously when processing verbal language. Men, however, use only the brain's left hemisphere when processing the same thing. The exception to this pattern was found in oriental individuals. Both men and women fluent in an oriental language, based on pictures, processed language using both the left and right hemispheres of the brain.
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