Gender and Information Processing (i.e. Memory and Learning)

Do men and women learn differently? Do we process information differently?

Prediction: Men and women process and relay information differently. For example, women could have stronger language skills and men may have better memory.

Article 1:

Lambe, Evelyn K. Dyslexia, gender, and brain imaging, Neuropsychologia, Volume 37, Issue 5, 1 February 1999, Pages 521-536, ISSN 0028-3932, 10.1016/S0028-3932(98)00146-8.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0028393298001468

Validity: Again without access to more information (other than its association with Yale University), I cannot make a judgment on the validity.

Researchers compared the brains of men and women. Different brain patterns were exhibited during phonological processing. Other than the way sound and language was processed, brains also were examined in several different areas such as normal brain development, morphology, and functional activation while reading. Previous studies with animals have shown evidence that lesions associated with dyslexia “affect rapid auditory processing” in males and not the females. Ultimately more research needed to be done within varied aspects of dyslexia by gender.

I was surprised by the outcome. Except for a post mortem lesion the researchers could not make any clearer gender observations. Also I had based the example in my hypothesis that women may have better language skills based on a nonchalant observation that women in my family are very verbal. With such an unscientific reason to make a hypothesis, I was surprised that any hint of it could be true. Although at the very end, no conclusive evidence was found.

Article 2:

Donders, Jacobus; Hoffman, Nicole M. Gender differences in learning and memory after pediatric traumatic brain injury. Neuropsychology, Vol 16(4), Oct 2002, 491-499. doi: 10.1037/0894-4105.16.4.491

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12382988

Validity: Doubts in validity were mentioned in the details. The numbers were questionable as far as effect size for the difference, the conclusion was that enough data could support a conclusion. The sample population was relatively small. Further data should be collected to see if the results would in accordance in larger sample populations.

A sample population of 30 boys and 30 girls who had had traumatic brain injury within one year performed the California Verbal Learning Test – Children’s Version. The results indicated that. “[b]oys had statistically significantly lower performance on the CVLT-C than girls in the absence of statistically significant group differences on various demographic and neurological variables.” The males are more likely to have retrieval issues. The researchers posited that this could be due to “reduced speed or efficiency of information processing.”

In this case, boys and girls scored differently with boys with lower performance scores. This supported my hypothesis that there is definitely a difference between genders. Although, I had mentioned that men may possibly have better memory. This is definitely not the case post trauma. Information retrieval was slowed. This made sense to me. Women may have better memories and in some cultures are assigned to be the “keepers of history” and to continue the oral family history. I wonder how closely this memory difference correlates to the anthropological phenomenon.

Article 3:

Reiss, Allan L., Abrams, Michael T., Singer, Harvey S., Ross, Judith L., and Martha B. Denckla. Brain development, gender and IQ in children: A volumetric imaging study. Brain (1996) 119(5): 1763-1774 doi:10.1093/brain/119.5.1763

http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/content/119/5/1763.full.pdf+html

Validity: The sample population was of 85 children between the ages of 5 and 17 years old. This is a relatively small population to make any large generalizations. The treatment of the data was very clinical and seemed to be analyzed without bias.

MRI and advanced image analysis attempted to make a study of normal pediatric brain development in real life. It was an attempt to get a more complete picture of cerebral development and morphology. The results showed that males had a “total cerebral volume is 10% larger in boys compared with girls.” Though no change was shown in total cerebral volume of both boys and girls after five years of age. Specifically:

“Increased cortical grey matter is the primary contributor to larger brain volume in boys, thus supporting the hypothesis that gender associated differences in brain size are related to differences in cortical neuronal density.” The authors mention that “IQ is positively correlated with total cerebral volume in children, in particular, with the volume of cortical grey matter in the prefrontal region of the brain. Subcortical grey matter also contributes to the variance in IQ, although to a lesser extent than cortical grey volume.” A conclusionary statement was lacking based on overall gender difference. The importance of continued research was stressed.

Unlike the previous articles, one could surmise from the data that larger brain volume likely indicates a higher IQ. Data dictated that males could have larger brain volume. The statement was not made though indicated even in the concise abstract. I ponder the researchers motives for hesitating to connect the dots even with cautionary doubt. This could indicate this. Though researchers hold back from a summary that makes a gender generalization. Why hesitate? Due to the potentially controversial nature of making a broad statement, the authors may have held back. I would like to know more about this careful phrasing.

Article 4:

Speck, O., Ernst, T., Braun, J., Koch, C., Miller, E., & Chang, L. (2000). Gender differences in the functional organization of the brain for working memory. NeuroReport, 11(11), 2581-2585.

http://papers.klab.caltech.edu/196/1/Speck_(NeuroReport_2000).pdf

Validity: The sample population was of only 17 individuals. Again this is a relatively small population to make any large generalizations. The treatment of the data was very clinical and seemed to be analyzed without bias.

Seventeen right handed individuals completed several memory tasks during which an fMRI was used to monitor any differences in brain activation: “For all four tasks, the male subjects showed bilateral activation or right-sided dominance (LPFC, PC and caudate), whereas females showed activation predominantly in the left hemisphere. The task performance data demonstrated higher accuracy and slightly slower reaction times for the female subjects. Our results show a highly significant (p < 0.001) gender differences in the functional organization of the brain for working memory.”

In short, men used either bilateral or a right side dominance. The females showed a left, also differing in more accuracy and slower reaction times. This data led to a conclusion that the functional organization of working memory is significantly different between the genders. The authors reasoned that this could be due to neurodevelopment or different problem solving techniques. Due to this difference, research should be conducted on both genders to get the most accurate data on memory research.

I found this article to be the most confident in its finding. Despite having a small sample population, the authors did not hesitate to say there was definitely a difference between the genders as far as working memory. I cannot help but again question the overall tone in scientific articles that seems to avoid making any gender difference statements.