Grabowska Anna
SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Warsaw, Poland.
Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimantal Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
J Neurosci Res. 2017 Jan 2;95(1-2):200-212. doi: 10.1002/jnr.23953.
A substantial number of studies provide evidence documenting a variety of sex differences in the brain. It remains unclear whether sexual differentiation at the neural level is related to that observed in daily behavior, cognitive function, and the risk of developing certain psychiatric and neurological disorders. Some investigators have questioned whether the brain is truly sexually differentiated and support this view with several arguments including the following: (1) brain structural or functional differences are not necessarily reflected in appropriate differences at the behavioral level, which might suggest that these two phenomena are not linked to each other; and (2) sex-related differences in the brain are rather small and concern features that significantly overlap between males and females. This review polemicizes with those opinions and presents examples of sex-related local neural differences underpinning a variety of sex differences in behaviors, skills, and cognitive/emotional abilities. Although male/female brain differentiation may vary in pattern and scale, nonetheless, in some respects (e.g., relative local gray matter volumes) it can be substantial, taking the form of sexual dimorphism and involving large areas of the brain (the cortex in particular). A significant part of this review is devoted to arguing that some sex differences in the brain may serve to prevent (in the case where they are maladaptive), rather than to produce, differences at the behavioral/skill level. Specifically, some differences might result from compensatory mechanisms aimed at maintaining similar intellectual capacities across the sexes, despite the smaller average volume of the brain in females compared with males. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
大量研究提供了证据，记录了大脑中存在的各种性别差异。目前尚不清楚神经层面的性别分化是否与日常行为、认知功能以及某些精神和神经疾病的发病风险中观察到的性别差异相关。一些研究人员质疑大脑是否真的存在性别分化，并提出了几个论据来支持这一观点，包括：（1）大脑结构或功能上的差异不一定会在行为层面上体现出相应的差异，这可能表明这两种现象彼此没有关联；（2）大脑中与性别相关的差异相当小，且涉及的特征在男性和女性之间有很大重叠。本综述对这些观点提出了质疑，并列举了与性别相关的局部神经差异的例子，这些差异是行为、技能以及认知/情感能力方面各种性别差异的基础。尽管男性/女性大脑分化在模式和程度上可能有所不同，但在某些方面（例如相对局部灰质体积），这种分化可能相当显著，表现为性别二态性，并涉及大脑的大片区域（尤其是皮层）。本综述的很大一部分致力于论证大脑中的一些性别差异可能是为了预防（如果这些差异是适应不良的情况）而不是产生行为/技能层面的差异。具体而言，尽管女性大脑的平均体积比男性小，但一些差异可能是由于旨在维持两性相似智力水平的补偿机制导致的。© 2016威利期刊公司。
