Thanks to John Gray, a philosopher, humanist and writer, everyone knows that men from Mars and the women of Venus are coming. We are radical … Different, although there are men with more or less female attitudes and women with a greater weight on their male side. Science has been determined for decades to find those differences in character in the Sesera, and in that direction a new research points that has first analyzed the brain for newborns. The finding is that we indeed distinguish ourselves from the brain from birth: girls are born with more gray matter than boys. But that, despite those who want to find organic differences between them, absolutely means nothing. The various emotional world of men and women sprouting hormones and learning. Neuroscience says it.
Perhaps it would be the right to explain briefly and easily what gray matter is and why research such as recently published by the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) in the magazine ‘Biology of sex differences’ (‘biology of sexual differences’) gives it as important. If we had a brain in our hand in two halves, we would see that most structure is white. Everything, except a smaller part, that is gray.
As explained by the Ikerbasque researcher Amanda Sierra, director of the Laboratory of Cell Biology at the Basque center for Neurosciences Achucarro, the gray part is the cores of neurons and other brain cells, such as gliers, accumulate. That field is responsible for information processing, sensations, learning, speech and cognition. White matter consists of axons, which are long nerve fibers that connect neurons from different areas of the brain.
Are women smarter because they have more gray matter since they were born? «This is something that cannot be raised. Because it makes no sense. The difference between genera is part of the cultural wealth of man, but the answer to that question cannot look at it in the structure of the brain because we will not find it, ”the Basque researcher argues.
Between football and dolls
Those who, in his opinion, define the differences between them are hormones. Learning also influences life. «If we give a boy a ball and let the girl tell stories to her wrist, the child will be better prepared for the sport, and her sister will have developed the language area much more. Consequently, it will be better prepared for other types of tasks, “says Sierra.
The study of the University of Cambridge explains that boys are born with a larger brain, with a greater volume than that of girls; But with much more white matter. This was known that it was the case with adults, but not in babies. Finally, it is known that these differences are present from birth.
The British group has observed them in more than 500 babies, which were subjected to a magnetic resonance of brain shortly after the world comes. After a first general evaluation, the researchers concentrated their studies at a more regional level and saw that the little ones had a larger volume of gray matter in brain areas related to memory and emotional regulation, while children with which they are dealing with sensory processing and motor control. The differences between them are not always given and in all cases, according to researcher Carrie Allison, deputy director of the Autismo Research Center, who has financed the work.
Two overlapping bulbs
It also does not mean that the brains of men or women are better or worse, such as Professor Simón Baron-Coen, director of the same center. «We are only confronted with an example of existing neurodiversity. We simply believe that this work, led by our PhD student Yumnah Khan, perhaps offers an answer about why autism is diagnosed more often in men, “he said.
In fact, as detailed by the neuroscientific Amanda Sierra, if we visualize the brains of men and women as two bulbs and one on top of each other overlap to see the differences between them graphically, it would see that there are practically not. The circles would almost coincide. “We are actually practically identical,” he says.
“It is very interesting that the work is not aimed at the point of view of wealth, depending on sex, because if we analyze the brains of children and adults of different breeds and countries, we find completely different results,” warns the Basque researcher. Cultures, races and countries argue, contribute to enriching the human species. The sex war makes no sense. Men and women are convicted of understanding each other. The same as the earth and the sun, the east and west or the north and south.
The study was conducted with more than 500 babies who were subjected to magnetic resonance shortly after birth
The British group has observed them in more than 500 babies – a figure that is not negligible – who were subjected to a magnetic brain resonance of the brain shortly after birth. After a first general evaluation, the researchers concentrated their studies at a more regional level and saw that the little ones had a larger volume of gray matter in brain areas related to memory and emotional regulation, while children with which they are dealing with sensory processing and motor control. The differences between them are not always given and in all cases, according to researcher Carrie Allison, deputy director of the Autismo Research Center, who has financed the work.
Two overlapping bulbs
It also does not mean that the brains of men or women are better or worse, as Professor Simon Baron-Con, director of the same center, adds to it. «We are only confronted with an example of existing neurodiversity. We simply believe that this work, led by our PhD student Yumnah Khan, perhaps offers an answer about why autism is diagnosed more often in men, “he said.
In fact, as detailed by the neuroscientific Amanda Sierra, if we visualize the brains of men and women as two bulbs and one on top of each other overlap to see the differences between them, it would see that there are practically not. The circles would almost coincide. “We are actually practically identical,” he says.
“It is very interesting that the work is not aimed at the point of view of wealth, depending on sex, because if we analyze the brains of children and adults of different breeds and countries, we find completely different results,” warns the Basque researcher. Cultures, races and countries argue, contribute to enriching the human species. The sex war makes no sense. Men and women are convicted of understanding each other. The same as the earth and the sun, the east and west or the north and south.
Scientists who are obsessed with the size … That doesn’t matter
The Neuroin that Amanda Sierra tests, from the Achucarro Center, complains that there are scientists “obsessed with the size of the brain”, which in his opinion is a dangerous mistake. The periodic appearance of studies that confirm the structural differences that the administrative body of the central nervous system is only “privileged to confirm in social networks and stereotypes and prejudices on groups such as women, transmeners or homosexuals”.
Does the size really make it? The truth, he says, is not. For example, dolphins have a larger and more complicated brain than people. But his intelligence is only comparable to that of the large primates.
