The brains of men and women are different but, until now, no specific study had been carried out on which structures make that difference. Now, thanks to research from the University of Cambridge, the evidence has been revealed and published in the journal Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews .
For the meta-analysis of the subject, the team of researchers carried out a review of all the existing literature of brain images of individuals between 0 and 80 years old that showed the differences in the volumes of the brains of both sexes. In total, 126 articles were analyzed out of all those published between 1990 and 2013 .
The final analysis determined that men have a higher average brain volume than women (between 8-13% more) . However, the differences in volume between the sexes are located in very specific regions of the brain, especially in the limbic system (where emotions originate).
The results highlight an asymmetric effect on the development of the brain according to sex, confirming the difference in size and structure of both. So, from now on, the gender of a patient should also be part of the considerations to take into account for a psychiatric study , for example, since the limbic system is related to schizophrenia and other psychiatric diseases.
Image Credit: Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
