New study debunks common myths of male, female brains


A research study published in the NeuroImage journal found that there are few differences between the male and female brain. Researchers from the U.S.-based Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science demonstrated that the hippocampus, responsible for memory forming and storing, is only slightly larger in females than in males. Lise Eliot, an associate professor of neuroscience at the university's medical school, and her team conducted independent studies involving more than 6,000 healthy individuals."Many people believe there is such a thing as a 'male brain' and 'female brain,'" Dr. Eliot said in a press statement. "But when you look beyond the popularized studies - at collections of all the data - you often find that the differences are minimal," Eliot continued. A prevailing - though misguided - notion today is that a woman's brain is wired so that women are more emotionally expressive, possess stronger interpersonal skills and have better memories. Eliot said their research examined multiple datasets and large samples of males and females. "We find these differences often disappear or are trivial," Eliot noted, adding that there is also no difference in the size of the corpus callosum, a part of the brain which allows the two sides of the brain to communicate. Women and men also do not differ in the way their left and right hemispheres process language.