KØN OG TÆNKNING

– en diskussion af kønsspecifikke hjerneforskelle og adfærd

Abstract

This article starts off presenting traditional gender differences. In all cultures gender and sex play a major part in structuring society and psycho social environment. Lately the interest in brain structures connected with sex has been focused on morphological basis of cognitive gender differences. It seems that there is consensus of the fact that males are superior to women in visuospatial abilities while women appear superior in linguistic capacity. Following a discussion of cognitive differences related to sex, a survey of the most important differences of brain morphology are presented – that is differences seated in hypothalamus and corpus callosum. Finally the connection between brain and cognition is discussed. It is emphasized that the brain is a plastic organ which implies that understanding the connection between sex and cognition includes study of the brain as well as the social environment.