Brain development: Is the difference between boys and girls all in their heads? Weve all seen it play out: Even in families that give their girls tractors and encourage their boys to cuddle dolls, more often the girls will choose a pink pony over a fire engine, and the boys will take Thomas the Tank Engine over Tinker Bell any old day. Why is that? Some of this behavior is learned, no question about it. But the gulf between boys and girls goes deeper than upbringing, says Sheri Berenbaum, a professor of psychology and pediatrics at Pennsylvania State University. Scientists suspect that even before birth, boys and girls brains are developing differently, shaping them into distinct little creatures. Is there such a thing as a boy brain and a girl brain? Yes. We know there are physical differences between a boys brain and a girls, both at birth and as children grow. But at least for now, exactly how those differences affect behavior, personality, and so on is a mystery. For example, scientists say there probably is an area of the brain that propels many boys toward things that move and many girls toward nurturing, but it has yet to be identified. How a boys brain develops in the womb Boys in the womb are little testosterone machines. In fact, says Margaret M. McCarthy, a professor of physiology at the University of Maryland who studies early brain development, male babies are born with as much testosterone as a 25-year-old man! After birth, testosterone plummets until a boy reaches puberty. Among its many other jobs, testosterone shapes a males developing brain. Animal studies show that it pares down the connections between brain cells (synapses) in some places and bulks them up in other places. One study found that both male and female rats who were exposed to extra testosterone before birth performed better at maze tests shortly after birth. While scientists arent ready to draw conclusions about humans based on this study, it is an indicator that testosterone may improve spatial reasoning. Animal studies also show that in any male, some regions make connections typical of males, but some parts remain feminine. Theres really no such thing as a completely male brain, McCarthy says. Its a mosaic of male and female. How a girls brain develops in the womb Girls make some testosterone before theyre born, too, but not nearly as much as boys, Berenbaum explains. And while girls do produce female hormones such as estrogen, these seem to have little impact on their developing brains. In other words, girls have the brain that boys would have if theirs werent reshaped by testosterone.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 08:12:12 +0000
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