A controlled magnetic resonance imaging study of corpus callosum thickness in schizophrenia

Nasrallah, Henry A.; Andreasen, Nancy C.; Coffman, Jeffrey A.; Olson, Stephen C.; Dunn, Val; Ehrhardt, James C.; Chapman, Suzanne

doi:10.1016/0006-3223(86)90048-x

Cited by 291 publications

(120 citation statements)

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“…Absolute corpus callosum size A total of 47 of the 49 studies evaluated the sex difference in CC area (Table A2) and five (A5, A10, A17, A23, A49; (91,111,25,126,105)) found an effect significant at α = 0.05 (two-tailed), all with a larger male average, as is expected from simple allometry. However, several others found positive d values short of significance.…”

Section: 5mentioning

confidence: 95%

“…In the post-mortem studies, most of the subjects had died from disease processes which, along with any medical treatment, may have changed morphological brain structure. Several MRI studies used neurologically normal subjects, but others examined patients with schizophrenia (A5, A19, A29, A42, A49; (91,56,104,130,105)), Alzheimer' s disease (A7; (132)), AIDS (A40; (82)), multiple sclerosis (A10, A40; (111,82)), unipolar depression (A43; (131)), bipolar affective disorder (A19; (56)) or gender dysphoria (A33; (45)). For these studies, all of which reported data separately for neurologically normal comparison groups, our review of sex differences included only the normal groups.…”

Section: Methods Utilized In Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Accordingly, several studies attempted to replicate this finding. Most defined splenial width to be the maximum width within the splenium taken perpendicular to the outline of the callosum, but others defined it as the maximum horizontal or vertical diameter (A6, A9, A16, A21, A22; (121,96,122,102)), the width of the line dividing the posterior fourth region from the rest of the callosum (A5, A19, A29, A42, A43; (91,56,104,130,131)), the posterior fifth dividing line (A13; (94)), or the largest of 10 evenly spaced thicknesses within the splenium (A17, Al8; (25) Of the 33 studies that analysed sex differences in splenial width, seven found significance at α = 0.05, six of these being studies with a larger female mean width (Al, A3, A4, A24, A27, A39; (34,32,67,31,65,66)) and one (study A2; (9)) reporting a larger male mean width. Analysis of the 28 studies that provided adequate information resulted in a combined d + = -0.25 that was significantly different from zero.…”

Section: Splenial Width and Shapementioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Sex Differences in the Human Corpus Callosum: Myth or Reality?

Bishop

Wahłsten

1997

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

335

160

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Abstract:It has been claimed that the human corpus callosum shows sex differences, and in particular that the splenium (the posterior portion) is larger in women than in men. Data collected before 1910 from cadavers indicate that, on average, males have larger brains than females and that the average size of their corpus callosum is larger. A meta-analysis of 49 studies published since 1980 reveals no significant sex difference in the size or shape of the splenium of the corpus callosum, whether or not an appropriate adjustment is made for brain size using analysis of covariance or linear regression. It is argued that a simple ratio of corpus callosum size to whole brain size is not an appropriate way to analyse the data and can create a false impression of a sex difference in the corpus callosum. The recent studies, most of which used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), confirm the earlier findings of larger average brain size and overall corpus callosum size for males. The widespread belief that women have a larger splenium than men and consequently think differently is untenable. Causes of and means to avoid such a false impression in future research are discussed. Keywords: allometry, brain size, effect size, literature review, meta-analysis, morphometry, ratio measures, statistical power Article:IF men and women think differently, their brains must also differ in some way. This holds true, even if the difference emanates largely from experience, because experience changes the brain (39,114). The size of cognitive gender differences has never been very large (58,69), and the difference has almost vanished for several abilities in more recently published reports (47,70). Of course, not all measures of behavior show small sex differences. For example, in the USA, boys possess considerably more knowledge about electronics, automobiles and machinery (58). Among 21 indicators of sexual behavior and sexuality, two (attitude towards casual intercourse and incidence of masturbation) exhibit male-female differences greater than 0.8 standard deviation (95), which is the conventional criterion for a large group difference in psychological research (27), although most (18 out of 21) show differences less than 0.5 standard deviation (SD). However, on tests of cognitive abilities, sex differences are usually small (58). In a review of 287 effect sizes for spatial visualization abilities (118), the average sex difference was 0.37 SD and only one kind of test (mental rotation) met the criterion for even a moderate effect size. For 254 effect sizes involving mathematical performance in 100 published studies, the male average exceeded the female average by only 0.2 SD, but for studies in which the samples were drawn from the general population, females scored slightly better than males (70). Given such small cognitive gender differences, it seems likely that only the most sensitive and refined neurological techniques will be able to locate the relevant difference in brain tissue.Neuroanatomists have scrutinized thousands of pre...

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Section: 5mentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Methods Utilized In Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Splenial Width and Shapementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Sex Differences in the Human Corpus Callosum: Myth or Reality?

Bishop

Wahłsten

1997

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

335

160

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“…6 There is a considerable interindividual variability in the area and shape of the CC in the healthy elderly. Both positive and negative results have been obtained regarding the correlation of CC cross-sectional areas to factors such as sex and handedness, [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] number of lacunes and the presence of infarcts in the cerebral hemispheres, 16,17 and/or brain size. 18 The mechanism for CC atrophy is poorly understood, but CC atrophy may reflect pathologic changes in subcortical white matter, as reported in patients with multiple sclerosis 19 and vascular dementia.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

White Matter Changes Contribute to Corpus Callosum Atrophy in the Elderly: The LADIS Study

Ryberg¹,

Rostrup²,

Sjöstrand³

et al. 2008

AJNR Am J Neuroradiol

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“…There are several morphometric studies revealing controversial results on the size and shape differences of the corpus callosum in schizophrenia. [16][17][18][19][20] In a meta-analysis, Woodruff et al 21 reported a small but significant decrease in the midsagittal area of the corpus callosum. Studies investigating shape differences in the corpus callosum showed that patients with schizophrenia had a more curved corpus callosum.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%