Posted on 02/08/2005 3:02:00 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
Canadian researchers examining the speed at which the brain works found a secondary discovery -- the male brain works slightly faster than a female one.
The difference in brain speed between the genders -- not the main purpose of the study -- was highlighted in a report in Thursday's Toronto Star.
One of the study's findings was that in men's brains, messages travel four per cent faster than in women's brains.
Researchers examined nerve conduction velocity (NCV) -- the speed at which messages are transmitted between brain cells -- for the study which will be published in the academic journal, Intelligence.
The study's lead author is Edward Reed, professor emeritus in anthropology and zoology at the University of Toronto. The other authors are Phillip Vernon and Andrew Johnson, two psychology professors at the University of Western Ontario.
They stress that their discovery does not mean men are smarter -- and that the difference in gender reaction times is minimal.
". . . the small sex difference that we reported (4 per cent) was secondary to the purpose of the study (which was to attempt to replicate an earlier report by the first-author)," Vernon wrote in an email to CTV.ca.
"Had we conducted the study with younger participants it is possible (likely) that girls would have shown faster NCVs than boys," added Vernon.
"Finally, a difference as small as 4 per cent is unlikely to yield any meaningful differences in cognitive abilities (which is probably why the vast majority of previous studies have found no sex differences in general intelligence)."
The study tested 186 males and 201 females between the ages of 18 and 25.
"It's been known for some decades more intelligent people have faster reaction times," Reed told The Star.
"Brain nerve conduction velocity is an important component in how rapidly we think and this can contribute to being more or less intelligent. If that speed is very low you're going to think slowly. If it's faster, you'll think faster."
Reaction
Canadian feminist Doris Anderson told the Star that the issue of gender differences in the brain is "one of those perennial questions that keep popping up."
"I think there may be a difference between male and female brains. Girls talk earlier. Boys develop different motor skills. But I think an awful lot of the difference between male and female is taught to them," said Anderson to the Star.
Dr. Ruth King from York University's Dept. of Women's Studies told CTV.ca:
"Why is this on the front page? I mean, it's a study that's not been published yet and there's not enough information given for me to say anything beyond the fact that it seems to be part of this general fascination with alleged sex differences."
Like the pain do you?
This one will be fun to watch.
Don't mention this in Harvard!
INTEL inside!!!!
I believe the question miss anderson has been answered on whether the differences between male and female are learned or natural have been answered by that case where a doctor prescribed a boy to be raised and taught to be girl when he lost his penis at a very young age. Simply put you can remove the bits, but you cant retrain the pieces to be what they arent.
I hope that is true because I need a 4% headstart on my mother-in-law!
Chicks dig my qwik brane.
It may be related to sexual dimorphism and the fact that way back when, men had to hunt large animals without firearms..
Maybe so, but what they failed to mention is that a man's brain can only carry ONE message at a time, while a woman's brain, although slower, is juggling 16 messages at once.
Yeah, but a Canadian 4% is like an American 2%.
LOL... They oughta measure an ADHD brain- it's pretty durn fast.
Obviously the male brain works faster. It has to, because it's smaller...
I just told my sister about this article, and she said the messages may be traveling four percent faster, but they certainly aren't being processed. LOL!
Just our humble opinion, but between the two of us (my sis and I), we have 55 years of marriage, 5 sons, 2 son-in-laws and 3 grandsons. I think that makes us authorities.
Whose side are you on? Aren't you a "he"? Or are you just kissing up to the opposition in the hope of earning cheap brownie points?
They are faster at some things..
On second thought, I think I know.
I'd agree that most women think more slowly than most men. But it's because we're exerting a lot of mental energy trying to remember every little thing you guys have done wrong for the past decade so we can use it against you in current arguments.
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