Abstract
When is an observed dissimilarity between brains of females and males a “sex” difference and when is it a “gender” difference? The aim of this conceptual paper is to pinpoint the understandings of “sex” and “gender” within neuropsychological research, as these terms implicitly lead to overlapping and nonspecific associations when variables concerning female and male characteristics are operationalized. Also, it is argued, following a central approach within gender studies, that it is impossible for the variables of “sex” and “gender” to be categorized as solely biological or solely social components or to be measured or recorded as such, and for this reason, they should in fact be regarded as a unity and designated as sex/gender.
References
1989). Two sexually dimorphic cell groups in the human brain. Journal of Neuroscience, 9, 497–506.
(2011). Females and males are highly similar in language performance and cortical activation patterns during verb generation. Cortex. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2011.05.014
(2009). Sex influences on the neurobiology of learning and memory. Learning & Memory, 16, 248–266.
(2003). Sex differences in semantic language processing: A functional MRI study. Brain and Language, 84, 264–272.
(1949). Le deuxième sexe
([The second sex] . Paris: France Loisirs.2010). Bidirectional connectivity between hemispheres occurs at multiple levels in language processing but depends on sex. Journal of Neuroscience, 30, 11576–11585.
(2011). New research, old problems: Methodological and ethical issues in fMRI research examining sex/gender differences in emotion processing. Neuroethics. Online first, doi: 10.1007/s12152-011-9143-3.
(2011). Gender-specific effect of Mthfr genotype and neonatal vigabatrin interaction on synaptic proteins in mouse cortex. Neuropsychopharmacology, 36, 1714–1728.
(1994). Nature-nurture reconceptualized in developmental perspective: A bioecological model. Psychological Review, 101, 568–586.
(1995). Dissociation of human prefrontal cortical areas across different speech production tasks and gender groups. Journal of Neurophysiology, 74, 2163–2173.
(1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. London, UK: Routledge.
(1993). Bodies that matter: On the discursive limits of sex (1st ed.). London, UK: Routledge.
(2006). Why sex matters for neuroscience. Nature Reviews. Neuroscience, 7, 447–448.
(2007). Sex determines the neurofunctional predictors of visual word learning. Neuropsychologia, 45, 741–747.
(2009). A large-scale investigation of lateralization in cortical anatomy and word reading: are there sex differences? Neuropsychology, 23, 210–222.
(2006). sex differences in cerebral laterality of language and visuospatial processing. Brain Lang., 98, 150–158.
(2004). Gender differences in spatial orientation: A review. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 24, 329–340.
(2007). Evolving knowledge of sex differences in brain structure, function and chemistry. Biological Psychiatry, 62, 847–855.
(1993). Publication bias: The problem that won’t go away. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 703, 135–146.
(2008). Sex dependent neurofunctional predictors of long-term maintenance of visual word learning. Neurosci. Lett., 430, 87–91.
(2012). Re-queering the brain. In , Neurofeminism: issues at the intersection of feminist theory and cognitive science (pp. 121–144). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
(2000). Sexing the body. Gender politics and the construction of sexuality. New York, NY: Basic Books.
(2007). Playing an action video game reduces gender differences in spatial cognition. Psychological Science, 18, 850–855.
(2010). Delusions of gender: How our minds, society, and neurosexism create difference/The real science behind sex differences. New York, NY: W. W. Norton/Icon.
(2011). (A)e(s)th(et)ics of brain imaging. Visibilities and sayabilities in functional magnetic resonance imaging. Neuroethics. Advance online publication. doi 10.1007/s12152-011-9139-z.
(1999). Language processing is strongly left lateralized in both sexes. Brain, 122, 199–208.
(2009). An fMRI study of sex differences in brain activation during object naming. Cortex; A Journal Devoted to the Study of the Nervous System and Behavior, 45, 610–618.
(2009). Sex and performance level effects on brain activation during a verbal fluency task: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Cortex; A Journal Devoted to the Study of the Nervous System and Behavior, 45, 164–176.
(1997). Sexual dimorphism of the developing human brain. Progress in Neuropsychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry, 21, 1185–1201.
(2000). An fMRI study of sex differences in regional activation to a verbal and a spatial task. Brain and Language, 74, 157–170.
(2002). Sex differences in temporo-limbic and frontal brain volumes of healthy adults. Cerebral Cortex, 12, 998–1003.
(1990). Primate visions: Gender, race, and nature in the world of modern science. New York, NY: Routledge, Chapman & Hall.
(2009). Interactive effects of sex hormones and gender stereotypes on cognitive sex differences – a psychobiosocial approach. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 34, 389–401.
(2008). Encoding gender and individual information in the mouse vomeronasal organ. Science, 320, 535–538.
(2004). Brain gender. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.
(1998). Lifespan changes in the human hypothalamus. Experimental Gerontology, 32, 559–575.
(2005). The gender similarities hypothesis. The American Psychologist, 60, 581–592.
(2007). Das “bewegte” Geschlecht
([The “moved” sex] . In , Gender in motion: Die Konstruktion von Geschlecht in Raum und Erzählung (pp. 104–127). Frankfurt, Germany/New York: Campus Verlag.2001). Short-term functional plasticity in the human auditory cortex: An fMRI study. Brain Research: Cognitive Brain Research, 12, 479–485.
(2002). Bodily inscriptions and gender in legal discourses of suicide. Sister in Law: A Feminist Law Review, 6, 168–184.
(2011). Male or female? Brains are intersex. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 5, 57.
(2002). Cerebral asymmetry for mental rotation: Effects of response hand, handedness and gender. Neuroreport, 13, 1929–1932.
(2002). Women and men exhibit different cortical activation patterns during mental rotation tasks. Neuropsychology, 40, 2397–2408.
(2010). Brain storm: The flaws in the science of sex differences. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
(2009). On sex/gender related similarities and differences in fMRI language research. Brain Research Reviews, 61, 49–59.
(2007). On females ‘lateral and males’ bilateral activation during language production: A fMRI study. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 63, 192–198.
(2000). Sex differences in lateralization revealed in the posterior language areas. Cerebral Cortex, 10, 866–872.
(2003). The influence of gender and emotional valence of visual cues on FMRI activation. Pharmacopsychiatry, 36, 191–194.
(2005). The influence of gender on auditory and language cortical activation patterns: Preliminary data. American Journal of Neuroradiology, 26, 2248–2255.
(1991). A difference in hypothalamic structure between heterosexual and homosexual men. Science, 253, 1034–1037.
(2010). Sex differences in mental rotation and line angle judgments are positively associated with gender equality and economic development across 53 nations. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 39, 990–997.
(2004). Gender differences in cortical complexity. Nature Neuroscience, 7, 799–800.
(2010). FMRI study of linguistic cortex in healthy Chinese individuals. Zhonghua Yi Xue Za Zhi, 90, 1453–1457.
(1995). Geschlecht als Existenzweise. Ulrike Helmer Verlag.
(2004). NormKörper: “Geschlecht” und “Rasse” in biomedizinischen Bildern
([NormBody: “Sex” and “race” in biomedical images] . In Grenzgänge – Genderforschung in Informatik und Naturwissenschaften (pp. 133–148). Königstein, Germany: Ulrike Helmer Verlag.2001). Why men don’t listen & women can’t read maps: How we’re different and what to do about it. New York, NY: Broadway Books.
(2001). Temporal lobe activation demonstrates sex-based differences during passive listening. Radiology, 220, 202–207.
(2006). Sex differences in the activation of language cortex during childhood. Neuropsychologia, 44, 1210–1221.
(2006, October). Die Geschlechter gleichen sich an [The sexes equalize]. Die Weltwoche, 41/2006. Retrieved from: www.weltwoche.ch/ausgaben/2006-41/artikel-2006-41-die-geschlechter.html
(1996). Cerebral organization of component processes in reading. Brain, 119, 1221–1238.
(2000). Sex differences on a mental rotation task: Variations in electroencephalogram hemispheric activation between children and college students. Developmental Neuropsychology, 17, 199–223.
(2003). Two- and three-dimensional mental rotation tasks lead to different parietal laterality for men and women. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 50, 235–246.
(2008). PET and MRI show differences in cerebral asymmetry and functional connectivity between homo- and heterosexual subjects. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105, 9403–9408.
(1998). Functional magnetic resonance imaging of human brain activity in a verbal fluency task. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 64, 492–498.
(2011). The neurotechnological cerebral subject: Persistence of implicit and explicit gender norms in a network of change. Neuroethics. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1007/s12152-011-9129-1
(2004). Does egocentric mental rotation elicit sex differences? Neuroimage, 23, 1440–1449.
(1995). Sex differences in the functional organization of the brain for language. Nature, 373, 607–609.
(2006). Effect of satiety on brain activation during chocolate tasting in men and women. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 83, 1297–1305.
(2008). Sex differences in handedness, asymmetry of the planum temporale and functional language lateralization. Brain Research, 1206, 76–88.
(2006). Men and women show distinct brain activations during imagery of sexual and emotional infidelity. NeuroImage, 32, 1299–1307.
(2009). Are gonadal steroids linked with orgasm perceptions and sexual assertiveness in women and men? Hormones and Behavior, 56, 206–213.
(2003a). Brain activation pattern during a verbal fluency test in healthy male and female volunteers: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Neuroscience Letters, 352, 191–194.
(2003b). Sex differences in brain activation pattern during a visuospatial cognitive task: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study in healthy volunteers. Neuroscience Letters, 344, 169–172.
(2008). Ventral frontal cortex in children: Morphology, social cognition and femininity/masculinity. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 3, 168–176.
(