Sunday, April 12, 2009

Sex I.D.

Here's a test to assess the gender of your brain found on BBC's website . I find this to be a reliable source as I am fond of BBC's documentaries but also since it uses information based on theories and studies I learned in my psychology classes. Some of these tests are in fact used in neuropsychology and neuroendocrinology. Also, the statisticals findings of researchers are given at the completion of each test to inform you of the correlations they found. Thus, enjoy while learning more about yourself and the brain :)


BEWARE!: This test averages the observations made when comparing spatial, verbal and other abilities of each sex. Keep in mind, there are generalization and many exceptions as well. Furthermore, I believe there is no such thing as a male or female brain. However, there are some areas more developed in one gender than the other and some significant differences in brain activity. For example, there seems to be more lateralisation in the male brain than in the female brain. Interestingly, even if we correct for body weight, the male's brain is still bigger than the female's (of course that is up for interpretation). Also, there are correlations with the performance on a specific tasks and the level of certains hormones in the blood (e.g. spatial ability has been associated with higher testosterone levels and the right hemisphere, usually in males but also in females). Finally, another example, in general, women have a better performance on verbal tasks and abstract thinking, which are associated with the left hemisphere.