« The Moment Of Truth | Main | Why Do Monkeys Pee On Themselves? »

12 Sep 2007 01:09 pm

The Gendered Brain

It makes women shrewder capitalists:

[M]en and women tend to play the trust game pretty differently. When men were contemplating whether or not to trust a stranger with their "investment," an area called the medial cingulate sulcus became active. Like the caudate, the cingulate sulcus is normally associated with the processing of potential rewards. However, once men made their decision - regardless of what their decision was - both the caudate and the sulcus turned themselves off. Their mind went silent.

Female brains acted very differently. The reward areas of their brain remained extremely active until they knew how the investor reacted to their decision. Camerer believes that this is because women are much more attuned to the social consequences of their decisions. "The difference in brain activity in the two genders is like the kind of behavior you might see after a couple gets home from a potluck dinner and rehashes the event," Camerer writes. "The man wants to turn on the TV and catch some sports scores (his cingulate is turned off). The woman is more likely to rehash the events of the evening, and worry about whether she said the right thing and whether the hostess was happy with the dish she brought, and whether plans for having lunch later in the week are genuine."

Permalink :: Trackback (0) :: Sphere It! ::

Share This