人类大脑结构中的性别差异是否与行为上的性别差异有关？

Are Sex Differences in Human Brain Structure Associated with Sex Differences in Behavior?

——原载美国《心理科学》杂志2021年第32卷第8期——

<Psychological Science>, 2021, 32(8)

【摘要】平均而言，男性和女性的大脑结构和行为不同，这增加了大脑和行为的性别差异之间存在联系的可能性。但女性和男性也受到不同的社会和文化规范的约束。我们通过调查每个性别中性别分化的大脑结构的可变性来应对这一挑战。使用来自昆士兰双胞胎成像研究 (n = 1,040) 和人类连接组项目 (n = 1,113) 的数据，我们基于大脑结构的平均性别差异，获得了沿男性-女性维度的大脑和行为个体差异的数据驱动测量和行为，分别。我们发现这些大脑与行为差异之间存在弱关联，这是由大脑大小驱动的。这些大脑和行为差异是适度遗传的。我们的研究结果表明，行为性别差异在某种程度上与大脑结构的性别差异有关，但这主要是由大脑大小的差异驱动的，应谨慎解释因果关系。

【关键词】阳刚化，大脑结构，神经影像学，核磁共振成像，双胞胎建模，开放数据

[Abstract] On average, men and women differ in brain structure and behavior, raising the possibility of a link between sex differences in brain and behavior. But women and men are also subject to different societal and cultural norms. We navigated this challenge by investigating variability of sex-differentiated brain structure within each sex. Using data from the Queensland Twin IMaging study (n= 1,040) and Human Connectome Project (n = 1,113), we obtained data-driven measures of individual differences along a male–female dimension for brain and behavior based on average sex differences in brain structure and behavior, respectively. We found a weak association between these brain and behavioral differences, driven by brain size. These brain and behavioral differences were moderately heritable. Our findings suggest that behavioral sex differences are, to some extent, related to sex differences in brain structure but that this is mainly driven by differences in brain size, and causality should be interpreted cautiously.

[Key words] masculinization, brain structure, neuroimaging, MRI, twin modeling, open data

       本文是针对论文《人类大脑结构中的性别差异是否与行为上的性别差异有关？（Are Sex Differences in Human Brain Structure Associated with Sex Differences in Behavior?）》的中文解析，该论文于2021年7月发表于《心理科学》（Psychological Science）杂志第32卷第8期上。该研究的作者包括澳大利亚昆士兰大学心理学院心理与进化研究中心以及脑研究所的Liza van Eijk等11位作者。

(中文解析请阅《华人性健康报》2021年11月16日PDF版)

论文原文：van Eijk, L., Zhu, D., Couvy-Duchesne, B., Strike, L. T., Lee, A. J., Hansell, N. K., Thompson, P. M., de Zubicaray, G. I., McMahon, K. L., Wright, M. J., & Zietsch, B. P. (2021). Are Sex Differences in Human Brain Structure Associated with Sex Differences in Behavior? Psychological Science,32(8), 1183–1197.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797621996664

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