This article is part of the supplement: Consciousness and its Measures: Joint Workshop for COST Actions NeuroMath and Consciousness
Proceedings
Gender differences in brain areas involved in silent counting by means of fMRI
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* Corresponding author: Olivera B Šveljo sveljo.olivera@onk.ns.ac.rs
1 Diagnostic Imaging Centre, Institute of Oncology, Instituski put 4, Sremska Kamenica, Serbia
2 Institute for Biological Research “Siniša Stanković”, University of Belgrade, Bulevar despota Stefana 142, Belgrade, Serbia
Nonlinear Biomedical Physics 2010, 4(Suppl 1):S2 doi:10.1186/1753-4631-4-S1-S2
Published: 3 June 2010Abstract
Background
Pattern of brain asymmetries varies with handedness, gender, age, and with variety of genetic and social factors. Large-scale neuroimaging analyses can optimize the detection of asymmetric features and confirm the factors that might modulate pattern of brain asymmetries. We attempted to evaluate eventual differences between genders in hemodynamic responses to a simple language task.
Methods
12 healthy right-handed volunteers (age 24-46), 6 men and 6 women underwent fMRI scanning while performing the simple cognitive - language processing task – silent number counting in Serbian.
Results
Group analysis of hemodynamic responses shows activation in expected brain language areas of inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and superior temporal gyrus (STG) in both hemispheres. In the male group, aside from dedicated language areas in IFG and STG, activation was noted in right frontal region and interhemispheric supplementary motor area. On the other hand, in the female group, besides activation in dedicated language areas, activation was noted, in right hippocampus, limbic brain and cerebellum bilaterally.
Conclusions
Our results on differences in silent counting by means of fMRI suggest that those differences may be based on different brain pattern activation in men and women. The relation between performance, strategies and regional brain activation should be the topic of further studies when considering not only gender differences in language processing but also differences that may be attributed to the variations in the task details, stimuli, and the stimulus presentation methods.