ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and Its Disorders, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia; Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia; Department of Neuroscience, Max-Planck-Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Hesse 60322, Germany.
Brain and Psychological Sciences Research Centre, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australia.
Behav Brain Res. 2020 Aug 5;391:112664. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2020.112664. Epub 2020 May 17.
Hippocampal rhythms are important for spatial navigation. This study examined whether gender differences in human navigation performance are associated with differences in hippocampal rhythms. We measured brain activities in males and females with whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG), while they performed a virtual Morris water maze task. Behavioural results showed clear gender differences: males were significantly faster than females; unlike males, females did not show improved navigation performance in a familiar vs. new environment. MEG results showed that the magnitudes of right hippocampal/parahippocampal theta rhythm were similar between the two groups during navigation in a new environment; however, unlike males who exhibited a significant decrease in right hippocampal/parahippocampal theta power in the familiar environment shown before, females showed no change. This result may suggest faster environmental learning in males vs. females. After navigating in the new environment during the inter-trial (ITI) rest periods, males showed significantly higher right hippocampal/parahippocampal high-gamma power than females, suggesting greater consolidation in males. Moreover, right hippocampal/parahippocampal theta power during navigation correlated with navigation performance in both genders; high-gamma power during the ITI was correlated with navigation performance only in males. These associations may provide further support for the functional importance of theta and high-gamma rhythms in navigation. Overall, this study provides new insights into the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying gender differences in spatial navigation.
海马体节律对空间导航很重要。本研究旨在探讨人类导航表现的性别差异是否与海马体节律的差异有关。我们使用全头式脑磁图（MEG）测量了男性和女性在执行虚拟 Morris 水迷宫任务时的大脑活动。行为学结果表明存在明显的性别差异：男性明显快于女性；与男性不同，女性在熟悉与新环境中导航时并未表现出更好的表现。MEG 结果表明，在新环境中导航时，两组的右海马/旁海马θ节律幅度相似；然而，与之前表现出的男性在熟悉环境中右海马/旁海马θ功率显著降低不同，女性没有变化。这一结果可能表明男性比女性更快地适应环境。在 ITI 休息期间在新环境中导航后，男性的右海马/旁海马高γ功率明显高于女性，表明男性的巩固程度更高。此外，导航过程中的右海马/旁海马θ功率与两性的导航表现相关；ITI 期间的高γ功率仅与男性的导航表现相关。这些关联可能为θ和高γ节律在导航中的功能重要性提供了进一步的支持。总的来说，这项研究为空间导航中性别差异的神经生理机制提供了新的见解。
