10 - Brain differences

Summary

Dr Paula Shear is a neuropsychologist who has worked with men and women with epilepsy to study brain functioning. Dr Rosemary Fama is a research associate at SRI International. They bring this knowledge and experience to this chapter, in which they review the differences in brain development, organization, and functioning between men and women. For example, whereas men and women have similar intelligence, men tend to be stronger with visual–spatial and mathematical tasks, and women have stronger verbal abilities. These brain differences mean that men and women with epilepsy may be more or less likely to develop particular types of difficulities. These differences are of particular importance as we consider how epilepsy might affect men and women differently, and also as we think about the potential side effects of epilepsy treatments such as medications and surgery.

MJM

This chapter provides an overview of the differences between men and women in terms of brain development, normal cognitive (thinking) skills, and the cognitive difficulties that may result from epilepsy. Although men and women have more similarities than differences in their brain development and brain functioning, a large body of scientific literature supports the presence of small but meaningful differences between their brains. The emphasis of this chapter is on the biology of sex differences in brain functioning, but there are many ‘nonbiological’ factors that also explain differences in behavior between men and women (Fig. 10.1).

From infancy, boys and girls are socialized differently in our culture.