Sex-related neuroanatomical basis of emotion regulation ability.

Feng Kong,Jingguang Li,Yiying Song,Xu Wang,Lijie Huang,Zonglei Zhen,Jia Liu,Frank Krueger

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0097071

Feng Kong, Jingguang Li + Show 6 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0097071

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Abstract

Behavioral research has demonstrated that males have a higher capability of regulating their own and others' emotions than females; however, little is known about the sex-specific brain mechanisms involved in emotion regulation ability. In the present study, we used voxel-based morphometry to investigate the neural basis underlying emotion regulation ability in a large sample of young adults. Assessment of emotion regulation ability was performed using the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale. As expected, males significantly scored higher in emotion regulation ability than females did. More importantly, we found the sex differences in the neuroanatomical basis of emotion regulation ability. Males showed a stronger positive relation between emotion regulation ability and regional gray matter volume (rGMV) in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In contrast, females demonstrated a stronger positive relation between emotion regulation ability and rGMV in an anatomical cluster that extends from the left brainstem to the left hippocampus, the left amygdala and the insular cortex. The present study provides the first empirical evidence regarding the sex-linked neuroanatomical correlates of emotion regulation ability. These findings may help understand why there is a higher prevalence of affective disorders in females and maladaptive behaviors in males.

Highlights

According to John Gray’s best-seller, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, males and females communicate differently and think, feel, perceive, respond, love, and appreciate differently [1]
We revealed a significant interaction of sex by emotion regulation ability in two anatomical clusters: one in the right DLPFC (MNI coordinate: 20, 28, 60; Cluster-corrected p,0.01) (Fig. 1A) and the other that extends from the left brainstem to the left hippocampus, the left amygdala and the insular cortex (MNI coordinate: 0, 214, 210; Cluster-corrected p,0.01) (Fig. 1B)
A significant positive correlation between emotion regulation ability and regional gray matter volume (rGMV) was found in a cluster that included the left precuneus (MNI coordinate: 22, 272, 32; Cluster-corrected p,0.01) (Table 2). These results suggest that the left hippocampus and the left amygdala, as well as the right DLPFC, have a sexspecific correlation with emotion regulation ability

Summary

Introduction

According to John Gray’s best-seller, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, males and females communicate differently and think, feel, perceive, respond, love, and appreciate differently [1] Such differences can be reflected in the domain of emotion regulation. Numerous behavioral studies have suggested that males score higher than females with regard to self-report measurement of emotion regulation ability and other similar constructs. The discrepancy may be due to the choice of measurement instrument, but these inconsistent findings are not accidental, which may reflect the gender differences in many emotional aspects These sex differences may be explained by the ‘‘extreme male brain theory of autism’’ proposed by Baron-Cohen (2002). We focused on emotional regulation ability and used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate the sex-specific neural basis of this ability

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