Monday, April 16, 2007

Male and female brains process differently

In this fMRI study, researchers study the firing patterns of men and women's brains when they are preparing to reach for an item.
"Typically, when a person uses his or her right hand to do something, an area or areas on the left side of the brain show activity. However, Sergio and Gorbet observed that in females, areas in both sides of the brain were lighting up during these eye-hand coordination experiments. That occurred in men only when they were planning their most complex task, in an experiment in which the joystick was adjusted to move the cursor in the opposite direction to the one expected."
"The research findings suggest that if someone has a stroke on one side of the brain, in one of the areas that differs between males and females, it may be important to take into account the sex of the patient.
“If the stroke is only on one side of the brain, a woman may have rehabilitation options that the man may have more trouble with,” said Sergio, “because the woman may be able to perform tasks using the other side of her brain, which is used to being fired up. We also need to recognize that men may have more trouble with rehabilitation, and may need to be checked more carefully before they resume everyday activities such as driving.”

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070413212142.htm

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Now the next question is whether therapists working with stroke victims really do see these kinds of gender differences...