THE brains of men and women work differently, scientists have shown for the very first time.
The breakthrough study shows sex does matter in how people think and behave.
The issue of whether male and female brains are, in fact, wired differently has been a controversial one for decades.
Many academics argue that nature – rather than our biology – shapes how we think and feel.
And until now, there has never been any proof to suggest that each brain’s inner workings function differently.
Scientists from Stanford University have discovered that it is possible to tell the sexes apart based on activity in “hotspot” areas.
The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest key differences in the “default mode” of the brain that helps us process the idea of “self” and retrieve memories.
The striatum and limbic systems are also affected, which are involved in learning and regulating emotions.
Previous research has pointed to differences in how men’s and women’s brains, including which brain is funnier, has a better sense of direction, and which of the two is better at learning languages.
The male brain
Better drivers
Funnier
More impulsive
Many men brag about being better drivers; annoyingly enough, they could be right.
According to several studies, men slightly outperform women when it comes to navigation skills.
A team of experts from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign recently conducted their own research to see if this phenomenon was really true.
To do this, they collected data on spatial navigation abilities and distance travelled from home among humans and 20 other species.
The results, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, suggested that among all species, males were better at finding their way back home than females.
Despite an ever-growing stream of successful female comedians – from Katherine Ryan to Melissa McCarthy, the science of humour sticks beside men.
Scientists from Aberystwyth University and the University of North Carolina analysed 28 studies on how funny around 5,000 people were.
They wanted to see whether the stereotype that men are funnier than women was true.
They looked at the results of various studies in which people were asked to rate men’s and women’s humour – without knowing their sex first.
And as it turns out, 63 per cent of men were funnier than the average woman.
Men might be more likely to make brash decisions than their female counterparts.
According to a study from the California Institute of Technology, higher levels of testosterone could increase impulsiveness in men.
And men, on average, have more of the sex hormone rushing through their bloodstream than women.
As part of the study, published in Sage, a group of men were given a dose of testosterone before being asked to solve maths problems and brain teasers, which often require reflection before coming to the correct answer.
Another group of men who hadn’t been given testosterone were asked to do the same tests.
Researchers found that the test group (of men who had been given testosterone) were more likely to stick to their initial answers and, when they changed their answers, were slower to respond to the correct response than the control group.
Lead researcher Professor Colin Camerer believes the increased testosterone impairs the brain’s ability to check itself.
He said: “The testosterone is either inhibiting the process of mentally checking your work or increasing the intuitive feeling that ‘I’m right.”
The female brain
Better at reading and writing
Good long-term memory
Better at learning languages
It’s a well-known fact that girls tend to outsmart boys in the classroom.
Girls outperform boys in GCSEs, and women outnumber men at most UK universities.
Therefore, it is no surprise that previous research from Australia suggested girls are better at reading and writing than boys – a trend seen from the age of ten right through into adulthood.
The scientists from Griffith University came to their conclusion after reviewing the test scores of four million American high school students spanning almost three decades.
The team believes the shocking discovery could be a result of boys being more likely to be diagnosed with a learning disability than girls.
Behavioural issues seen more commonly in boys, such as inattentiveness, may also contribute, as could the difference in how the genders use their brains.
As the battle of the sexes wages on, women and men have long fought over who has the better memory.
And finally, science falls on the side of women.
In 2010, researchers from Cambridge University discovered that the female brain is more capable of remembering information than the male.
The study carried out several memory tests on around 4,500 men and women.
Each participant’s cognitive and physical performance, currently aged between 48 and 90 years, was assessed.
The results strongly suggested that women’s memories function better than men, with women making fewer errors on a specific memory test than men.
There has been a long-standing idea in language learning that females are more adept at foreign languages than males.
And several pieces of research suggest this really could be true.
According to one 2008 study of young learners at Northwestern University, girls and boys process language differently.
The research revealed that, when learning a new language, girls’ brains show greater activity in the areas used for language processing.
Boys’ brains, on the other hand, show activity in the areas associated with visual and listening functions.
This suggests that while girls can process abstract language more easily, boys need sensory reinforcement to process the data. For example, they might need to learn new works through touch.