Gender differences in brain areas involved in silent counting by means of fMRI

Olivera B Šveljo,Miloš A Lučić,Mladen B Prvulović,Milka Ćulić,Katarina M Koprivšek

doi:10.1186/1753-4631-4-s1-s2

Olivera B Šveljo, Miloš A Lučić + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/1753-4631-4-s1-s2

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Abstract

BackgroundPattern of brain asymmetries varies with handedness, gender, age, and with variety of genetic and social factors. Large-scale neuroimaging analyses can optimize the detection of asymmetric features and confirm the factors that might modulate pattern of brain asymmetries. We attempted to evaluate eventual differences between genders in hemodynamic responses to a simple language task.Methods12 healthy right-handed volunteers (age 24-46), 6 men and 6 women underwent fMRI scanning while performing the simple cognitive - language processing task – silent number counting in Serbian. ResultsGroup analysis of hemodynamic responses shows activation in expected brain language areas of inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and superior temporal gyrus (STG) in both hemispheres. In the male group, aside from dedicated language areas in IFG and STG, activation was noted in right frontal region and interhemispheric supplementary motor area. On the other hand, in the female group, besides activation in dedicated language areas, activation was noted, in right hippocampus, limbic brain and cerebellum bilaterally.ConclusionsOur results on differences in silent counting by means of fMRI suggest that those differences may be based on different brain pattern activation in men and women. The relation between performance, strategies and regional brain activation should be the topic of further studies when considering not only gender differences in language processing but also differences that may be attributed to the variations in the task details, stimuli, and the stimulus presentation methods.

Highlights

Pattern of brain asymmetries varies with handedness, gender, age, and with variety of genetic and social factors
Our results on differences in silent counting by means of fMRI suggest that those differences may be based on different brain pattern activation in men and women
The relation between performance, strategies and regional brain activation should be the topic of further studies when considering gender differences in language processing and differences that may be attributed to the variations in the task details, stimuli, and the stimulus presentation methods

Summary

Introduction

Pattern of brain asymmetries varies with handedness, gender, age, and with variety of genetic and social factors. Through the whole 20th century it has been generally accepted that there are no significant differences in brain anatomy between genders but females are considered better in performing some tasks and male in some other. Considering the classical language regions (Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area) as recently reviewed [2], fMRI studies report sex/gender related differences in language. Our aim was to investigate possible differences in the language processing in adult healthy volunteers for silent counting as a simple word generation task by means of fMRI and preliminary account on this study has already appeared [14]

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