Women's brain boosts more than men when the environment gets better

ByCyril Rana

Boost the function of the brain by food and lifestyleMethodIn the new research, the brain of a woman is more easily influenced by the social environment than the brain of a man, and when the woman is in a good social environment, it was found that the brain boosted so much as to surpass the ability of male .

The changing face of cognitive gender differences in Europe
http://www.pnas.org/content/111/32/11673.abstract

Women's brains got a huge boost from better living conditions | The Verge
http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/28/5945501/womens-brains-got-a-huge-boost-from-better-living-conditions

"If the level of the living environment improves, both male and female will improve the brain's ability to recognize, but women's more than men," says SwedenKarolinska InstituteAgneta Herlitz who is a psychologist enrolled in, and who studied. Although the research results that the past environment influences human's cognitive ability was announced, it is obvious that there is a gender difference in improving ability in this research, and that there is a difference in recognition pattern between men and women It was made.

ByHartwig HKD

In the research, data on cognitive brain power of 30 thousand people living in 13 European countries born from 1923 to 1957 was used. Through these data, we analyzed the subject's ability to recognize, that is, ability to recall mathematical sophistication, events of a certain moment, ability to list names of objects belonging to a specific category as much as possible, and analyze the results as a declining birthrate / Mortality rate · Education level · Average life expectancy · GDP of each country at the age of 25 was compared. In addition, medical information is not used this time.

As a result, women in 13 countries in Europe are better than men in "ability to recall events of a certain moment", and when the social environment gets better, "the ability to list as many names as possible in items belonging to a particular category" It turned out that the gender difference became smaller.

It is unclear why the recognition ability of certain women exceeds that of men when "the social environment is improved", but the researcher said, "Women generally receive bad treatment and start Because of the low level, the ability will boost dramatically by improving the environment. "

ByGreat Beyond

On the other hand, Herlitz notes that women 's ability to improve mathematical skills is less than male, and that women' s abilities in all categories will not surpass men. It is believed that this is originally due to the fact that men are more good at mathematical proficiency than women, but it is very difficult to distinguish between biological and environmental factors, and it is also difficult to distinguish between 2 It is said that any one of the factors is involved.

Diane Halpern, a former chairman of the American Psychology Association, also agreed to Mr. Herlitz's view, and informed The Verge's e-mail, "The development of cognitive abilities is both innate and later factors In other words, biological factors and diversity such as individual differences, society, cultural factors, etc. have mutually influenced. " For this reason, Mr. Herlitz explained the "results of social and cultural sexuality"genderWe use the word "sex (sex)" including biological implications instead of "sex (gender)".

In addition, research has revealed that there is a relationship between gender equality and cognitive abilities in the elderly, and because there was no research related to gender equality and cognitive ability of the elderly until now, It is very uniqueGriffith UniversityPsychologist David Reilly commented.

ByInterior_Photos

But,University of Wisconsin-MadisonPsychologist Janet Hyde says, "There is no doubt about the fact that medical facts are not included in research data and how to compare the data of those born before 1945 with those born before 1945 People during the Second World War were experiencing starvation and bombing and were in a situation where it was easy to cause PTSD. "Given the influence of these experiences in the second half of life, Pointed out the possibility that it is not meaningful.

On the other hand, Mr. Halpern says, "Although the event called World War II is important, the number of samples used for the study was very large, and considering that each subject was chosen randomly, It can be said that there is a scientific basis for the results of that. "

Herlitz recognizes that the fact that "there is a gender difference in abilities" is difficult to accept due to several reasons, and that this research raises many problems and may become a controversial point It is. However, "raising the problem is what researchers and papers should do," Herlitz said.