Gender differences in the functional organization of the brain for workingmemory

Gender differences in brain activation during working memory tasks were exa mined with fMRI. Seventeen right-handed subjects (nine males, eight females ) were studied with four different verbal working memory tasks of varying d ifficulty using whole brain echo-planar MRI. Consistent with prior studies, we observed activation of the lateral prefrontal cortices (LPFC), the pari etal cortices (PC), and additionally. caudate activation in both sexes. The volume of activated brain tissue increased with increasing task difficulty . For all four tasks, the male subjects showed bilateral activation or righ t-sided dominance (LPFC, PC and caudate), whereas females showed activation predominantly in the left hemisphere. The task performance data demonstrat ed higher accuracy and slightly slower reaction times For the female subjec ts. Our results show a highly significant (p < 0.001) gender differences in the functional organization of the brain for working memory. These gender- specific differences in functional organization of the brain may be due to gender-differences in problem solving strategies or the neurodevelopment. T herefore, gender matching or stratification is required for studies of brai n function using imaging techniques. NeuroReport 11:2581-2585 (C) 2000 Lipp incott Williams & Wilkins.