Haut Kristen M, Barch Deanna M
Department of Psychology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63150, USA.
Neuroimage. 2006 Aug 1;32(1):411-22. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.01.044. Epub 2006 May 30.
Research investigating the effects of sex on the lateralization of language functions has produced mixed results to date, with some studies finding sex differences and others not [Shaywitz, B.A., Shaywitz, S.E., Pugh, K.R., Constable, R.T., Skudlarski, P., Fulbright, R.K., Bronen, R.A., Fletcher, J.M., Shankweiler, D.P., Katz, L., et al., 1995. Sex differences in the functional organization of the brain for language. Nature 373 607-609.; Frost, J.A., Binder, J.R., Springer, J.A., Hammeke, T.A., Bellgowan, P.S., Rao, S.M., Cox, R.W., 1999. Language processing is strongly left lateralized in both sexes. Evidence from functional MRI. Brain 122 (Pt 2) 199-208.]. Further, few studies have evaluated how any such sex effects extend to tasks involving cognitive functions that may utilize language processes such as working and episodic memory. This study examined sex difference in material-sensitive functional activation (using fMRI) in working memory and episodic memory that included either words and faces. We performed these analyses on two large groups of healthy subjects with the goal of attempting to replicate results across two independent data sets. The results indicated that both males and females showed strong and consistent evidence for material-sensitive lateralization for both working and episodic memory, such that word tasks resulted in greater left-sided activation and face tasks resulted in greater right-sided activation. Further, few of the sex differences in regions showing material specificity effects in at least one gender replicated across studies, providing little evidence for any differences in lateralization patterns between the sexes. In conclusion, our data suggest that males and females show a similar pattern of lateralized activation to material type during working memory and recognition tasks.
迄今为止，关于性别对语言功能侧化影响的研究结果不一，一些研究发现了性别差异，而另一些则未发现[谢伊维茨，B.A.，谢伊维茨，S.E.，普格，K.R.，康斯特布尔，R.T.，斯库德拉斯基，P.，富布赖特，R.K.，布罗嫩，R.A.，弗莱彻，J.M.，尚克韦勒，D.P.，卡茨，L.等，1995年。大脑语言功能组织中的性别差异。《自然》373 607 - 609页；弗罗斯特，J.A.，宾德，J.R.，施普林格，J.A.，哈梅克，T.A.，贝尔戈万，P.S.，拉奥，S.M.，考克斯，R.W.，1999年。语言处理在男女两性中都强烈偏向左侧化。来自功能磁共振成像的证据。《大脑》122（第2部分）199 - 208页]。此外，很少有研究评估这种性别效应如何扩展到涉及可能利用语言过程（如工作记忆和情景记忆）的认知功能的任务中。本研究使用功能磁共振成像检查了工作记忆和情景记忆中对材料敏感的功能激活的性别差异，这些记忆包括单词和面孔。我们对两组大量健康受试者进行了这些分析，目的是试图在两个独立的数据集中重复结果。结果表明，男性和女性在工作记忆和情景记忆中都表现出对材料敏感的侧化的有力且一致的证据，即单词任务导致左侧激活更强，面孔任务导致右侧激活更强。此外，在至少一种性别中显示出材料特异性效应的区域中，很少有性别差异在各项研究中重复出现，几乎没有证据表明两性之间在侧化模式上存在任何差异。总之，我们的数据表明，男性和女性在工作记忆和识别任务中对材料类型表现出相似的侧化激活模式。
