A new study suggests that there is no innate difference between a female brain and a male brain. This debunks an earlier belief that there is a variation on the brain wirings depending on the gender.
In December 2013, a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists have released maps of the brain wirings of females and males which showed variations. They then linked it to the variation of the skills per gender.
However, researchers from Aston University, Birmingham, UK, led by Professor Gina Rippon, reviewed this idea and argued that the differences between male and female stem from external environmental factors, not on brain wirings.
Earlier studies claimed that female brains are more adept in multitasking and socializing and male brains are more skillful in coordinated movement and perception. However, Prof. Rippon stated that claiming any differences between the gender's brain is just another way of gender stereotyping.
"The bottom line is that saying there are differences in male and female brains is just not true. There is pretty compelling evidence that any differences are tiny and are the result of environment not biology," Prof. Rippon told The Telegraph.
She explained further by citing the study which showed that the brains of black cab drivers in London were physically altered after reading a book about the city's streets. She concluded that the same stimuli may also be used to check if there are indeed differences on the brain of males and females.
Furthermore, the researchers noted that the differences are not hard-wired, rather they were formed by the cultural stimuli both genders were subjected to at an early age, such as telling them which toys to play with.
"What often isn't picked up on is how plastic and permeable the brain is. It is changing throughout lifetime," she said to The Telegraph.
This finding was presented during the International Women's Day program.
