Men's brains are indeed structured differently than women's.

Men and women have different amounts of gray and white matter in their brains

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Women are generally more emotional than men. They are talkative, have good memories, and are prone to elaborate fantasies; they experience things differently—especially smells—and envision future developments in their own way. Women can discuss multiple topics at once, just as they can multitask effectively.

Men, with few exceptions, tend to have a better spatial awareness and understanding of their surroundings compared to women. This allows them to move more skillfully and accurately.

Is the difference in behavior between men and women rooted in their brain structure? There is no absolute certainty—scientists debate this. However, recently, compelling arguments have been put forth primarily by those who believe that a difference indeed exists, and it is allegedly related to the ratio of white and gray matter.

Gray matter, composed of neurons, is associated with thinking. As people sometimes say, it is where the brain "works." Gray matter manages emotions, memory mechanisms, and information processing. It is mainly located in the outer layer of the brain—the cortex.

White matter consists of neuron extensions and is found closer to the center of the brain, connecting its various regions. The speed at which white matter transmits signals affects how effectively people "think," as well as how efficiently the brain manages the body based on the information received from the senses.

Researchers from Cambridge University scanned the heads of 514 infants—236 newborn girls and 278 newborn boys. The results of this extensive study, which enabled "gender conclusions," were published in the journal Biology of Sex Differences.

MRI scans showed that female infants had more gray matter "associated with memory and emotional regulation."

In contrast, male infants exhibited more white matter "responsible for sensory processing and motor control."

The scientists hypothesize that sexual differences in the brain are established in the womb under the influence of sex hormones—testosterone, androgen, progesterone, and estrogen. Boys and girls are born with distinctly different brains.

The brains of boys and girls viewed from different angles. Girls have more gray matter in the areas marked in red, while boys have more white matter in the area marked in blue.

BY THE WAY

Over the years, the differences between male and female brains only become more pronounced—functionally. However, this is not immediately noticeable; it is only recognized by specially trained artificial intelligence (AI).

At the beginning of last year, Stanford Medicine reported that their developed neural network identified differences and correctly indicated the "gender of the brain" in 90 percent of cases.

Experts led by Vinod Menon—professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Laboratory—first trained the AI by showing it several thousand fMRI images of brains, with known male and female classifications. Eventually, the AI learned to distinguish between them. Subsequently, it was presented with another set of images—1,500 randomly collected from Europe and the USA—of which the scientists knew the gender, but the AI did not. During this experiment, it achieved that notable 90 percent success rate—correctly identifying the male or female brain in 90 out of 100 cases.

The artificial colleague informed humans that it detected differences in the striatum, limbic system, and in the so-called default mode network.

- We have compelling evidence that sex is a reliable determinant of human brain organization, - Menon thoughtfully explained in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), referenced in the university's press release.

Could it really be that men are from Mars and women are from Venus?