The Brains of Women and Men Really Are Different

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report.

A man enters a store to buy milk. He walks out of the store with milk. That is all — milk. At the same time, a woman enters the same grocery store to buy milk. She buys it. But, she also buys chicken and lemons to make dinner that night. And she gets some wine for a party later that week. Then she remembers to buy a card for a friend, coffee for the morning, and some cleaning supplies. That is the difference between the female and male brain simply explained in a grocery store. Generally speaking, men do one thing at a time. Women do several things at the same time.

Now some brain research supports this theory. Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania studied brain images of 949 people from eight to 22 years old. They found that male brains have more connections on one side of the brain, or hemisphere. In the female brain, they found more connections between the right and left hemispheres. The left side of the brain is known as the side of “reason”. The right hemisphere is know as the “creative” side.

Regina Verma is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. She co-wrote the study. Se says when women are asked to do something difficult they are likely to use both the reasoning and the creative side. Men, she adds, generally use one or the other. As a result, men generally deal directly with a problem. Women are more likely to take a less direct path to find a solution. But, Dr. Verma says the study shows generalities. She says it should not lead anyone to expect some behaviors from women and others from men.