Abstract
There are both reproductive and nonreproductive behavioral differences between men and women. Brain regions involved in determining sexual behavior have been reported to differ between the sexes. Nonreproductive, cognitive functional differences between sexes might be reflected in higher-order cortical structural dimorphisms, which have not previously been studied. We hypothesized that cortical regions involved in verbal behavior (which is sexually dimorphic) would differ between sexes. Using magnetic resonance imaging, we assessed gray matter volumes in several cortical regions in 17 women and 43 men. Women had 23.2% (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) and 12.8% (superior temporal gyrus) greater gray matter percentages (corrected for overall brain size and age) than men in a language-related cortical region, but not in a more visuospatially related cortical region. These data seem to establish sexually dimorphic structural differences in the cerebral cortex, consistent with ptior cerebral blood flow reports.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 129-135 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Psychiatry Research - Neuroimaging |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 29 1995 |
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Keywords
- Cortical gray matter volume
- Gender dimorphism
- Heteromodal association cortex
- Verbal fluency
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging
- Neuroscience (miscellaneous)
- Biological Psychiatry
- Psychology(all)
Cite this
Structural differences in the cerebral cortex of healthy female and male subjects : a magnetic resonance imaging study. / Schlaepfer, Thomas E.; Harris, Gordon J.; Tien, Allen Y.; Peng, Luon; Lee, Seong; Pearlson, Godfrey D.
In: Psychiatry Research - Neuroimaging, Vol. 61, No. 3, 29.09.1995, p. 129-135.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Structural differences in the cerebral cortex of healthy female and male subjects
T2 - a magnetic resonance imaging study
AU - Schlaepfer, Thomas E.
AU - Harris, Gordon J.
AU - Tien, Allen Y.
AU - Peng, Luon
AU - Lee, Seong
AU - Pearlson, Godfrey D.
PY - 1995/9/29
Y1 - 1995/9/29
N2 - There are both reproductive and nonreproductive behavioral differences between men and women. Brain regions involved in determining sexual behavior have been reported to differ between the sexes. Nonreproductive, cognitive functional differences between sexes might be reflected in higher-order cortical structural dimorphisms, which have not previously been studied. We hypothesized that cortical regions involved in verbal behavior (which is sexually dimorphic) would differ between sexes. Using magnetic resonance imaging, we assessed gray matter volumes in several cortical regions in 17 women and 43 men. Women had 23.2% (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) and 12.8% (superior temporal gyrus) greater gray matter percentages (corrected for overall brain size and age) than men in a language-related cortical region, but not in a more visuospatially related cortical region. These data seem to establish sexually dimorphic structural differences in the cerebral cortex, consistent with ptior cerebral blood flow reports.
AB - There are both reproductive and nonreproductive behavioral differences between men and women. Brain regions involved in determining sexual behavior have been reported to differ between the sexes. Nonreproductive, cognitive functional differences between sexes might be reflected in higher-order cortical structural dimorphisms, which have not previously been studied. We hypothesized that cortical regions involved in verbal behavior (which is sexually dimorphic) would differ between sexes. Using magnetic resonance imaging, we assessed gray matter volumes in several cortical regions in 17 women and 43 men. Women had 23.2% (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) and 12.8% (superior temporal gyrus) greater gray matter percentages (corrected for overall brain size and age) than men in a language-related cortical region, but not in a more visuospatially related cortical region. These data seem to establish sexually dimorphic structural differences in the cerebral cortex, consistent with ptior cerebral blood flow reports.
KW - Cortical gray matter volume
KW - Gender dimorphism
KW - Heteromodal association cortex
KW - Verbal fluency
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0029152975&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0029152975&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/0925-4927(95)02634-A
DO - 10.1016/0925-4927(95)02634-A
M3 - Article
C2 - 8545497
AN - SCOPUS:0029152975
VL - 61
SP - 129
EP - 135
JO - Psychiatry Research - Neuroimaging
JF - Psychiatry Research - Neuroimaging
SN - 0925-4927
IS - 3
ER -