Exploring Sex Differences in the Neural Correlates of Self-and Other-Referential Gender Stereotyping
Exploring Sex Differences in the Neural Correlates of Self-and Other-Referential Gender Stereotyping
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DOI：
10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00031
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发表时间：
2019-02-18
影响因子：
3
通讯作者：
Derntl, Birgit
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Hornung, Jonas;Smith, Elke;Derntl, Birgit
虽然一般的自我参照过程及其神经基础已被广泛研究与神经成像工具，有限的数据是关于性别差异的自我和他人参照处理。为了填补这一空白，我们测量了17名健康女性和男性，他们在功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）期间使用性别陈规定型形容词进行自我与他人评价任务。在自我评价任务中，典型的男性（例如，“支配的”、“竞争的”）和女性形容词（例如，“交流的”，“敏感的”），并询问参与者这些形容词是否适用于自己。在其他评价任务中，一个典型的男性（布拉德皮特）和女性演员（朱莉娅罗伯茨）被提出，并再次要求参与者判断是否典型的男性和女性形容词适用于这些演员。关于自我指涉的过程中，女性归因于显着更多的女性相比，男性的特点，以自己。与此同时，女性和男性都表示更强烈的愿望，以显示男性超过女性的特点。虽然功能磁共振成像没有检测到一般的性别差异的自我和其他条件，一些微妙的差异，揭示了性别之间：无论是在右侧壳核和双侧杏仁核更强的性别一致性激活被发现，但这是不相关的行为措施，如自我归因的女性或男性属性的数量。此外，性激素水平显示出与大脑激活的一些联系，这表明女性和男性的模式不同。最后，自我与他人条件一般导致前扣带皮层更强的激活，而他人与自我条件更强地激活右楔前叶，这与先前的研究结果一致。综上所述，我们的数据支持微妙的性别差异，在处理刻板的性别属性。然而，目前尚不清楚这些差异是否具有行为相关性。我们还指出了这项研究的几个局限性，包括样本量小和缺乏对女性潜在不同激素状态的控制。
While general self-referential processes and their neural underpinnings have been extensively investigated with neuroimaging tools, limited data is available on sex differences regarding self- and other-referential processing. To fill this gap, we measured 17 healthy women and men who performed a self- vs. other-appraisal task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) using gender-stereotypical adjectives. During the self-appraisal task, typical male (e.g., "dominant," "competitive") and female adjectives (e.g., "communicative," "sensitive") were presented and participants were asked whether these adjectives applied to themselves. During the otherappraisal task, a prototypical male (Brad Pitt) and female actor (Julia Roberts) was presented and participants were asked again to judge whether typical male and female adjectives applied to these actors. Regarding self-referential processes, women ascribed significantly more female compared to male traits to themselves. At the same time both women and men indicated a stronger desire to exhibit male over female traits. While fMRI did not detect general sex differences in the self- and other-conditions, some subtle differences were revealed between the sexes: both in right putamen and bilateral amygdala stronger gender-congruent activation was found which was however not associated with behavioral measures like the number of self-ascribed female or male attributes. Furthermore, sex hormone levels showed some associations with brain activation pointing to a different pattern in women and men. Finally, the self- vs. other-condition in general led to stronger activation of the anterior cingulate cortex while the other- vs. self-condition activated the right precuneus more strongly which is in line with previous findings. To conclude, our data lend support for subtle sex differences during processing of stereotypical gender attributes. However, it remains unclear whether such differences have a behavioral relevance. We also point to several limitations of this study including the small sample size and the lack of control for potentially different hormonal states in women.