Neuroscientists Reveal Key Brain Differences Between Sex and Gender

Neuroscientists have discovered that when it comes to our brains, sex and gender are associated with different neural networks. The researchers hope that their findings will highlight the importance of considering sex and gender separately in medical settings to ensure equal access to optimal treatment outcomes.

by National Institutes of HealthSex is a biological concept that is assigned at birth based on physical characteristics such as anatomy and X and Y chromosomes, whereas gender is a multidimensional concept based on identity and social and cultural expectations.

A growing body of research points to clear neurological differences between male and female brains, but whether these differences are due to biological or social factors remains largely mysterious.

“Sex and gender are distinct from one another and both are linked to biological, social and environmental factors,” said Elvisha Damara, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, New York. Newsweek.

“Unfortunately, in biomedical research the two are often confused or equated.

“Although the interplay between sex and the brain has been studied, we still do not fully understand how sex affects the brain. Understanding how sex and gender affect the brain independently and collectively is crucial as it will inform future research into brain disorders that have known sex and gender differences in prevalence.”

In a new study published in the journal Scientific advancesDamala and her colleagues set out to understand how sex and gender affect our brains.

“In this study, we investigated how sex and gender affect brain networks, which are how different parts of the brain are active and connected,” Damala said. “Using data from the Youth Brain Cognitive Development Study of 4,757 participants, we analyzed functional MRI data to see how different brain regions communicate and form networks.”

The team investigated how these networks related to an individual’s binary gender assignment at birth and the gender reported by the young participants and their parents. “We found that sex and gender each affect different brain networks,” Damala said.

“This means that future brain studies will need to consider sex and gender separately. It is important to distinguish between sex and gender when collecting, analysing and interpreting data.”

In particular, networks involved in motor control, vision, emotion, and behavior were more strongly associated with gender, whereas gender-related networks were primarily distributed in brain regions involved in learning, memory, reasoning, and consciousness.

In this study, the researchers only looked at the relationships between brain networks, sex, and gender in young people at a single point in time, so they cannot comment on how these relationships change over the course of development or into adulthood. However, the researchers plan to build on this work to study these relationships across the lifespan.

“This study demonstrates that sex has independent effects on the brain, beyond the effects of sex per se, and that these effects map to distinct functional brain networks,” Damala said. “Going forward, it suggests that if we want to better understand the brain, we need to consider sex and gender separately.”

Because this data was collected at a specific point during adolescence, it is unclear how these relationships evolve as people grow into adulthood. The research team plans to follow up on this finding with further studies on the relationship between sex, gender, and brain networks across the lifespan.

“If we want to improve health outcomes for all, the future of biomedical research depends on being able to consider sex and gender separately,” Damala said.

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