State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology & National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
Neuroimage. 2017 Sep;158:397-405. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.07.031. Epub 2017 Jul 16.
Spatial navigation is a crucial ability for living. Previous studies have shown that males are better at navigation than females, but little is known about the neural basis underlying the sex differences. In this study, we investigated whether cortical scene processing in three well-established scene-selective regions was sexually different, by examining sex differences in scene selectivity and its behavioral relevance to navigation. To do this, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan the parahippocampal place area (PPA), retrosplenial complex (RSC), and occipital place area (OPA) in a large cohort of healthy young adults viewing navigationally relevant scenes (N = 202), and correlated their neural selectivity to scenes with their self-reported navigational ability. Behaviorally, we replicated the previous finding that males were better at navigation than females. Neurally, we found that the scene selectivity in the bilateral PPA, not in the RSC or OPA, was significantly higher in males than females. Such differences could not be explained by confounding factors including brain size and fMRI data quality. Importantly, males, not females, with stronger scene selectivity in the left PPA possessed better navigational ability. This brain-behavior association could not be accounted for by non-navigational abilities (i.e., intelligence and mental rotation ability). Overall, our study provides novel empirical evidence demonstrating sex differences in the brain activity, inviting further studies on sex differences in the neural network for spatial navigation.
空间导航是一种至关重要的生存能力。先前的研究表明，男性在导航方面优于女性，但对于性别差异的神经基础知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们通过检查场景选择性及其与导航行为的相关性方面的性别差异，研究了三个成熟的场景选择性区域中的皮质场景处理是否存在性别差异。为此，我们使用功能磁共振成像 (fMRI) 扫描了大样本健康年轻成年人在观看导航相关场景时的海马旁回位置区域 (PPA)、后扣带回复合体 (RSC) 和枕叶位置区域 (OPA)（N=202），并将其神经选择性与他们报告的导航能力相关联。在行为上，我们复制了先前的发现，即男性在导航方面优于女性。在神经上，我们发现男性双侧 PPA 的场景选择性明显高于女性，而 RSC 或 OPA 则不然。这些差异不能用包括大脑大小和 fMRI 数据质量在内的混杂因素来解释。重要的是，左侧 PPA 场景选择性更强的男性具有更好的导航能力，而不是女性。这种大脑-行为关联不能用非导航能力（即智力和心理旋转能力）来解释。总的来说，我们的研究提供了新的经验证据，证明了大脑活动中的性别差异，这促使我们进一步研究空间导航的神经网络中的性别差异。
