Mars, Venus, and working memory: It's a draw!
28 April 2009
Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry, working with colleagues from the University of Munich, Germany, used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study working memory in men and women. This type of memory refers to the processes of holding and managing information for a short period of time, like remembering a phone number. Both genders activated the same network of brain regions. 'Working memory is fundamental to our ability to function in everyday life as it is woven into every aspect of learning, reasoning and planning' explained Dr. Frangou, who led the research. 'Gender differences are commonly understood in terms of human evolution; because working memory is the cornerstone of cognitive function evolutionary pressures seem to have selected those with optimal working memory regardless of gender'.
In their manuscript, published in Human Brain Mapping, the research team describes how the acquired brain images using fMRI from 50 men and women. While in the scanner participants were shown randomly presented letters and are asked to memorise the order of presentation. They then had to indicate if the letter they saw was identical to the one shown 1, 2, or 3 letters previously. Both men and women activated the same brain regions across all levels of difficulty and had similar scores in terms of accuracy and errors.
Despite widespread preoccupation and fascination with gender differences this study adds to a substantial body of evidence which suggests that men and women are more alike than different.
No gender differences in brain activation during the N-back task: An fMRI study in healthy individuals. Schmidt H, Jogia J, Fast K, Christodoulou T, Haldane M, Kumari V, Frangou S. Human Brain Mapping 2009
The full manuscript is available at the publisher's website http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hbm.20783/abstract.