Is the Corpus Callosum much larger in women than in men?

[DennisPTate]

I had to dig back to a really old version of Wikipedia to find this because this idea is politically incorrect and will offend some people.

For the past forty years I quite happily told women that they had a larger corpus callosum than I did, [which they found to be kind of funny, until they figured out that this implied that lower expectations of me would be logical]?

I had heard when I was young that we guys got a surge of testosterone while we were in our mothers womb that burned out a significant percentage of our corpus callosum but perhaps that theory was exaggerated?

The corpus callosum is a structure of the mammalian brain in the longitudinal fissure that connects the left and right cerebral hemispheres. It facilitates communication between the two hemispheres. It is the largest white matter structure in the brain, consisting of 200-250 million contralateral axonal projections. It is a wide, flat bundle of axons beneath the cortex. Much of the inter-hemispheric communication in the brain is conducted across the corpus callosum.

...
Of much more substantial popular impact was a 1982 Science article claiming to be the first report of a reliable sex difference in human brain morphology, and arguing for relevance to cognitive gender differences.<a href="Corpus callosum - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>2<span>]</span></a> This paper appears to be the source of a large number of lay explanations of perceived male-female difference in behaviour: For example Time magazine was reported to state in 1992 that the corpus callosum is "Often wider in the brains of women than in those of men, it may allow for greater cross-talk between the hemispheres—possibly the basis for woman’s intuition."<a href="Corpus callosum - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>3<span>]</span></a> There is scientific dispute not only about the implications of anatomical difference, but whether such a difference actually exists. A substantial review paper performed a meta-analysis of 49 studies and found, contrary to de Lacoste-Utamsing and Holloway, that males have a larger corpus callosum, a relationship that is true whether or not account is taken of larger male brain size.<a href="Corpus callosum - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>1<span>]</span></a> Bishop and Wahlstein found that "the widespread belief that women have a larger splenium than men and consequently think differently is untenable." However, more recent studies using new analysis and imaging techniques (e.g. diffusion-tensor imaging) revealed morphological and microstructural sex differences in human corpus callosum.<a href="Corpus callosum - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>4<span>]</span></a><a href="Corpus callosum - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>5<span>]</span></a><a href="Corpus callosum - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>6<span>]</span></a> A 2006 Serbian study found variations in morphology correlated with sex, but in ways too complex for simple direct comparison.<a href="Corpus callosum - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>7<span>]</span></a> Whether,[<em><a href="Wikipedia:Citation needed - Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (May 2009)">citation needed</span></a></em>] and to what extent, these morphological differences are associated with behavioural and cognitive differences between men and women remains unclear.

...

The corpus callosum has been reported to be significantly larger in musicians than non-musicians,<a href="Corpus callosum - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>8<span>]</span></a> and to be slightly larger in left-handed people than right-handed people

Corpus callosum - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[kc48]

My lib profs tell their classes that men and women are the same.

 

[Dorian Mode]

My lib profs tell their classes that men and women are the same.

WTF is a woman? Is it what all democrap men aspire to be?

 

[kc48]

WTF is a woman? Is it what all democrap men aspire to be?

My profs are freaks.

 

[d0gbreath]

I've always known that women are smarter. No, not your ditzy GF, but in general. This could mean something. In other news: Men have a divider between their brain halves that women don't have.

 

[Captain Creeper]

Well, I don't know anything about all that. But I do know that, looking back, I have enjoyed my wang immensely over the years!

 

[Leo123]

That must be why women like to talk.

 

[DennisPTate]

That must be why women like to talk.

Yes, it was back in the eighties when I saw a segment on the local news. It was one of those electronic images of the female brain at work vs the male brain. The female brain was pretty much entirely all lit up but the male brain was only firing in two or three major spots.

I am not quite certain how I should even comment on that but that image has helped me to understand my wife a lot better.

 

[DennisPTate]

My lib profs tell their classes that men and women are the same.

Yes, they are lying and very likely doing so quite deliberately!

 

[DennisPTate]

I've always known that women are smarter. No, not your ditzy GF, but in general. This could mean something. In other news: Men have a divider between their brain halves that women don't have.

That is pretty much exactly how I understand that information about the Corpus Calossum as well.

These facts help me to understand why my wife is passionate about things that I barely even notice.

 

[Seymour Flops]

Yes, it was back in the eighties when I saw a segment on the local news. It was one of those electronic images of the female brain at work vs the male brain. The female brain was pretty much entirely all lit up but the male brain was only firing in two or three major spots.

What, the spot that thinks about beer, the spot that thinks about boobs, and the spot that wonders whether the Texans can beat New England this Sunday?

I am not quite certain how I should even comment on that but that image has helped me to understand my wife a lot better.

I prefer mine to remain a mystery.

 

[DennisPTate]

What, the spot that thinks about beer, the spot that thinks about boobs, and the spot that wonders whether the Texans can beat New England this Sunday?

I prefer mine to remain a mystery.

Yup.... that is The Spot!!!!

Amazing how those astonishing creatures can get attached to us in spite of all our flaws anyway!