An fMRI Study of Sex Differences in Regional Activation to a Verbal and a Spatial Task

Gur, Ruben C.; Alsop, David C.; Glahn, David C.; Petty, Richard G.; Swanson, Charlie L.; Maldjian, Joseph A.; Turetsky, Bruce I.; Detre, John A.; Gee, James C.; Gur, Raquel E.

doi:10.1006/brln.2000.2325

Cited by 310 publications

(184 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…They are also consistent with activation studies using functional MRI, which have reported greater interhemispheric activation in females on a language task, in which they excelled (44), and greater focal intrahemispheric activation in males on a spatial task, in which they excelled (45). With respect to development, DTI studies (23,24) have shown higher FA and lower MD in the CC in females during midadolescence, confirming a similar trend in our data.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Sex differences in the structural connectome of the human brain

Ingalhalikar

Smith

Parker

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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1,020

621

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Sex differences in human behavior show adaptive complementarity: Males have better motor and spatial abilities, whereas females have superior memory and social cognition skills. Studies also show sex differences in human brains but do not explain this complementarity. In this work, we modeled the structural connectome using diffusion tensor imaging in a sample of 949 youths (aged 8-22 y, 428 males and 521 females) and discovered unique sex differences in brain connectivity during the course of development. Connection-wise statistical analysis, as well as analysis of regional and global network measures, presented a comprehensive description of network characteristics. In all supratentorial regions, males had greater within-hemispheric connectivity, as well as enhanced modularity and transitivity, whereas between-hemispheric connectivity and cross-module participation predominated in females. However, this effect was reversed in the cerebellar connections. Analysis of these changes developmentally demonstrated differences in trajectory between males and females mainly in adolescence and in adulthood. Overall, the results suggest that male brains are structured to facilitate connectivity between perception and coordinated action, whereas female brains are designed to facilitate communication between analytical and intuitive processing modes. diffusion imaging | gender differences S ex differences are of enduring scientific and societal interest because of their prominence in the behavior of humans and nonhuman species (1). Behavioral differences may stem from complementary roles in procreation and social structure; examples include enhanced motor and spatial skills and greater proclivity for physical aggression in males and enhanced verbally mediated memory and social cognition in females (2, 3). With the advent of neuroimaging, multiple studies have found sex differences in the brain (4) that could underlie the behavioral differences. Males have larger crania, proportionate to their larger body size, and a higher percentage of white matter (WM), which contains myelinated axonal fibers, and cerebrospinal fluid (5), whereas women demonstrate a higher percentage of gray matter after correcting for intracranial volume effect (6). Sex differences in the relative size and shape of specific brain structures have also been reported (7), including the hippocampus, amygdala (8, 9), and corpus callosum (CC) (10). Furthermore, developmental differences in tissue growth suggest that there is an anatomical sex difference during maturation (11,12), although links to observed behavioral differences have not been established.Recent studies have used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to characterize WM architecture and underlying fiber tracts by exploiting the anisotropic water diffusion in WM (13-15). Examination of DTI-based scalar measures (16) of fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) has demonstrated diverse outcomes that include increased FA and decreased MD in males in major WM regions (17-19), higher CC-specific...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Sex differences in the structural connectome of the human brain

Ingalhalikar

Smith

Parker

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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1,020

621

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“…Similarly, these sex differences in cognitive domains are consistent with previous studies (Antonova et al, 2004;Halari et al, 2006;Sota and Heinrichs, 2003), and have been suggested as due to differences in brain structure for the two sexes and to differences in neural lateralization (Antonova et al, 2004). One study indicated greater right hemispheric specificity for males' and bilateral representations for females' brains (Gur et al, 2000) and greater leftward asymmetry of frontal lobe fractional anisotropy in females than males (Szeszko et al, 2003).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Gender differences in cognitive function of patients with chronic schizophrenia

Han¹,

Huang²,

Chen³

et al. 2012

Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry

122

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Schizophrenic patients have cognitive impairments, but gender differences in these cognitive deficits have had limited study. This study assessed cognitive functioning in 471 subjects including 122 male and 78 female schizophrenic patients and 141 male and 130 female healthy controls. We found that immediate memory, language, delayed memory and total RBANS scores were significantly decreased in schizophrenia compared with healthy controls for both genders. Male patients had significant lower immediate memory, delayed memory and total RBANS scores than female patients, and healthy controls showed a similar gender difference. The RBANS showed modest correlations with PANSS scores, duration of illness and antipsychotic dose (chlorpromazine equivalents). Almost all RBANS scores in the schizophrenics and healthy controls showed significant positive correlations with education. Thus, patients of both sexes with schizophrenia experienced more deteriorated performance than healthy controls on cognitive domains of immediate memory, language and delayed memory. Furthermore, male schizophrenic patients had more serious cognitive deficits than female patients in immediate and delayed memory, but not in language, visuospatial and attention indices. AbstractSchizophrenic patients have cognitive impairments, but gender differences in these cognitive deficits have had limited study. This study assessed cognitive functioning in 471 subjects including 172 male and 78 female schizophrenic patients and 141 male and 130 female healthy controls. We found that immediate memory, language, delayed memory and total RBANS scores were significantly decreased in schizophrenia compared with healthy controls for both genders. Male patients had significant lower immediate memory, delayed memory and total RBANS scores than female patients, and healthy controls showed a similar gender difference. The RBANS showed modest correlations with PANSS scores, duration of illness and antipsychotic dose (chlorpromazine equivalents). Almost all RBANS scores in the schizophrenics and healthy controls showed significant positive correlations with education. Thus, patients of both sexes with schizophrenia experienced more deteriorated performance than healthy controls on cognitive domains of immediate memory, language and delayed memory.Furthermore, male schizophrenic patients had more serious cognitive deficits than female patients in immediate and delayed memory, but not in language, visuospatial and attention indices.

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“…Indeed, reduced DLPFC activity in schizophrenia may be coupled with a relative increase in activity in other brain regions [Callicott et al, 2000]. Changes in the relative level of activation within brain regions of the working memory network have been reported in better-and worse-performing healthy subjects [Callicott et al, 1999;Jansma et al, 2001;Ragland et al, 1997] and across genders [Gur et al, , 2000. In patients with schizophrenia, shifts in the relative amount of activation within specific brain regions comprising the working memory network could be related to altered performance levels [Manoach, 2003] or be secondary to reductions in interregional connectivity that disrupt normal activation levels throughout the network [Selemon and Goldman-Rakic, 1999].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond hypofrontality: A quantitative meta‐analysis of functional neuroimaging studies of working memory in schizophrenia

Glahn

Ragland

Abramoff

et al. 2005

Human Brain Mapping

558

393

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Abstract:Although there is considerable evidence that patients with schizophrenia fail to activate the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) to the degree seen in normal comparison subjects when performing working memory or executive tasks, hypofrontality may be coupled with relatively increased activity in other brain regions. However, most imaging studies of working memory in schizophrenia have focused on DLPFC activity. The goal of this work is to review functional neuroimaging studies that contrasted patients with schizophrenia and healthy comparison subjects during a prototypical working memory task, the n-back paradigm, to highlight areas of hyper-and hypoactivation in schizophrenia. We utilize a quantitative metaanalysis method to review 12 imaging studies where patients with schizophrenia were contrasted with healthy comparison subjects while performing the n-back paradigm. Although we find clear support for hypofrontality, we also document consistently increased activation in anterior cingulate and left frontal pole regions in patients with schizophrenia compared to that in controls. These data suggest that whereas reduced DLPFC activation is reported consistently in patients with schizophrenia relative to healthy subjects, abnormal activation patterns are not restricted to this region, raising questions as to whether the pathophysiological dysfunction in schizophrenia is specific to the DLPFC and about the relationship between impaired performance and aberrant activation patterns. The complex pattern of hyper-and hypoactivation consistently found across studies implies that rather than focusing on DLPFC dysregulation, researchers should consider the entire network of regions involved in a given task when making inferences about the biological mechanisms of schizophrenia. Hum Brain Mapp 25:60 -69, 2005.

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An fMRI Study of Sex Differences in Regional Activation to a Verbal and a Spatial Task

Cited by 310 publications

References 38 publications

Sex differences in the structural connectome of the human brain

Sex differences in the structural connectome of the human brain

Gender differences in cognitive function of patients with chronic schizophrenia

Beyond hypofrontality: A quantitative meta‐analysis of functional neuroimaging studies of working memory in schizophrenia

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