Ever Wondered What Makes Men And Women Different?

Of all the wars and debates that mankind has witnessed since its inception, probably the one that has endured the longest pertains to who is better, men or women. To their credit both sides have left no stone unturned in projecting their high-points and covering their downsides so as to emerge on top. This battle would have continued to rage had it not been for the revelation made recently by a scientist of Indian origin working for the University of Pennsylvania claiming that wiring within the brains of men is different from that characterizing the brains of women.

Referred to as connectomes in the scientific jargon, wires that connect the front and rear portion are more in a man’s brain than that of a woman’s while wires that join the two hemispheres are more in females than males. As a direct result of this connectivity, men benefit from higher sense of perception and coordination of action while women enjoy a superior intuition and possess improved analytical abilities.

These conclusions were drawn from a target group of 949 people, of which 428 were men and 521 were women, and spanned the age group between 8 and 22 years. Amongst these, the observers noticed that gender differences were least evident in children below the age of 13 years but surfaced as they progressed to adolescence at 14 years of age. Gender-based differences began to surface between 14 and 17 years and became more pronounced as the teenagers progressed to adulthood.

The technique used was water-based namely Diffuser Tensor Imaging (DTI) wherein pathways of neural fibers connecting different areas of the brain were traced. When this information was depicted on paper what emerged was a blueprint showing a comprehensive network of connectomes. Not only did this help in establishing the structural framework of the brain but also promoted understanding as to how it functioned.

After subjecting the diagram to in-depth examination it was found that in the region of the cerebrum of a woman larger number of wires ran between left and right hemispheres while in case of a man the number of wires within each hemisphere were more. In sharp contrast to these was the finding pertaining to cerebellum wherein men enjoyed good connectivity between two hemispheres and women were found to have better connectivity within each hemisphere.

It is owing to this factor, the scientists went on to explain, that men and women have different capabilities and their areas of expertise hardly overlap and hence arguing for superiority of gender is nothing but a big waste of time and energy.