Posted on 02/11/2005 6:20:56 AM PST by presidio9
BOYS may be outperformed by girls at school but there is a glimmer of hope for them. Researchers claim to have found scientific proof that men can think faster than women.
Their study found that men's brain cells could transmit nerve impulses faster than women's – potentially giving males the intellectual edge.
The claim will add fuel to the debate recently triggered by Larry Summers, the president of Harvard University, who challenged the prevailing wisdom when he suggested women were innately less able than men in subjects such as maths and science.
The new study is likely to prompt similar anger. This weekend, the intellectual credentials of the researchers – all male – were themselves already being challenged by other eminent neurologists. In the study, scientists measured nerve conduction velocity, the speed at which messages passed through and between brain cells.
Other studies have suggested the speed of such impulses is linked to intelligence, drawing parallels with computers, where faster processors result in more power to carry out tasks quickly.
The latest paper, to be published shortly in the academic journal Intelligence, will say: "Males had four faster NCVs than females. This very significant sex difference in all test conditions in favour of males was most unexpected."
Under the research, scientists carried out investigations on 186 male and 201 female Canadian students, who were subjected to a battery of cognitive tests to assess their intelligence and other mental skills.
Researchers also measured the length of their subjects' heads to estimate the distance impulses would have to travel from the eye to the primary visual cortex, which interprets what someone is seeing.
Then they used electrodes to measure how long it took for an image flashed in front of the eye to send an impulse back to the visual cortex.
Professor Edward Reed, a zoologist at Toronto University, and Philip Vernon and Andrew Johnson, psychologists at the University of Western Ontario, found the impulses were speeding through men's brains faster than through women's. They suggest this is because the nerves in men's brains have a slightly thicker coating of myelin, a fatty material which protects the nerves and improves conductivity.
The report concludes: "We find that males have four faster NCVs than females with each of the three test conditions, probably due to their faster increase of white matter in the brain during adolescence."
The researchers appear to have realised only recently that such conclusions could prove political and controversial. This weekend all three were refusing to comment on their findings although Vernon said he would consider replying to emails.
It has long been clear that men's and women's brains do have important differences and each tends to perform certain tasks slightly better than the other. For example, some studies suggest men have better spatial skills, while women may be more emotionally aware and verbally fluent.
However, most experts point out that the differences are small compared with the similarities and that there is far more variation between individuals than genders.
Bruce Burns, assistant professor in the department of psychology at Michigan State University, conducted a study of chess players, suggesting those who were quicker thinkers were likely to make better moves.
He said: "There is controversy about sex difference but there seems to be a fair amount of agreement that men do tend to have better visual spatial skills. However, I am not sure we can say that makes them more intelligent."
Desmond Morris, the social anthropologist and zoologist, said evolutionary pressures were likely to have given men and women slightly different skills. "Perhaps men's better visual responses came from having to hunt animals while women developed personal skills from child-rearing and co-operating to grow or gather plants," he said.
However, others reject such simple analyses, comparing the methods of the Canadian research to phrenology, a discredited Victorian science which attempted to link intelligence, creativity and other mental faculties to the size and shape of people's skulls.
Professor Steven Rose, director of the brain and behaviour research group at Britain's Open University, said previous studies suggested no difference in decision-making between men and women. "It is true that men and women use different parts of the brain for similar tasks but the time taken to complete the tasks is identical."
Bea Campbell, the feminist writer and historian, also questioned the findings. "The distribution of intelligence is much the same for all genders and all races," she said. "Our experience and common sense tells us that the quest to prove one or another biological group is brainier than the other is really a vain exercise."
I just don't know what to think about this. :)
Men are not allowed to speak the truth or present a theory that offends females? Just look at all the anti male advertising on TV. They make men look like idiots
Why is it okay to say that women see more shades of red, but not that men are faster thinkers?
I'm so tired of these Feminazis trying to distort the truth and huffing and puffing at any sign of difference. Men and women are just different.
To many a womans dismay.
Does this only happen in public school classrooms? Why is that private and homeschooled children don't seem to have these various crises of biology?
And that's our fault?
Um, yes.
They should, whether or not the media will insult them. Look at how they came out against Promise Keepers. I don't know what goes on in public school classrooms but all the more reason why I'm glad I never went to one.
Well that answers everything. Kill all the women.
I know. I dig it.
Women see more shades of red?
"And are able to use both sides of the brain at the same time while you BOYS can only use 1 side"
That's not an asset - it's a debit. Focusing on the task at hand requires attention to detail and the ability to distance critical thinking/problem-solving logic from emotion.
Using both sides of the brain simultaneously is one step away from attention deficit disorder...and that, friend, is a fact.
Hardly. Just more proof that women are slow. Maybe it's a passive-agressive thing.
**************
What?! No apology for the findings?
It's all about self-control.
The Feminist and media propaganda that women are far more intelligent is laughable. Every single invention furthering civilization in the last 200 years is man-made. Men started every Fortune 500 company. Quick test, name the top 5 breakthrough inventions by women that dramatically altered the way we live. Top 3? Anything?
Men and women are different, and there's nothing wrong with that. We prefer them when they're proud to be a women, not pissed off and trying to look and act like men.
They are faster to pull a knocked down book case out of the carton and starting to assemble it before reading directions(oops..those shelves are backwards) and faster at driving miles out of the way before stopping and asking for directions. ;)
I love you guys..
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