The Human Brain Is Best Described as Being on a Female/Male Continuum: Evidence from a Neuroimaging Connectivity Study

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Yi Zhang - , Fudan University, University of Cambridge (Author)
  • Qiang Luo - , Fudan University (Author)
  • Chu Chung Huang - , East China Normal University (Author)
  • Chun Yi Zac Lo - , Fudan University (Author)
  • Christelle Langley - , University of Cambridge (Author)
  • Sylvane Desrivières - , Medical Research Council (MRC) (Author)
  • Erin Burke Quinlan - , Medical Research Council (MRC) (Author)
  • Tobias Banaschewski - , Heidelberg University  (Author)
  • Sabina Millenet - , Heidelberg University  (Author)
  • Arun L.W. Bokde - , Trinity College Dublin (Author)
  • Herta Flor - , Heidelberg University , University of Mannheim (Author)
  • Hugh Garavan - , University of Vermont (Author)
  • Penny Gowland - , University of Nottingham (Author)
  • Andreas Heinz - , Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Author)
  • Bernd Ittermann - , Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (Author)
  • Jean Luc Martinot - , Université Paris-Saclay, EPS Barthélémy Durand (Author)
  • Eric Artiges - , Université Paris-Saclay, EPS Barthélémy Durand (Author)
  • Marie Laure Paillère-Martinot - , Université Paris-Saclay, Sorbonne Université (Author)
  • Frauke Nees - , Trinity College Dublin, Heidelberg University , University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel (Author)
  • Dimitri Papadopoulos Orfanos - , University of Göttingen (Author)
  • Luise Poustka - , Medical University of Vienna, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (Author)
  • Juliane H. Fröhner - , Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Neuroimaging Center (Author)
  • Michael N. Smolka - , Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Neuroimaging Center (Author)
  • Henrik Walter - , Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Author)
  • Robert Whelan - , Trinity College Dublin (Author)
  • Shih Jen Tsai - , Veterans General Hospital-Taipei, National Yang-Ming University (Author)
  • Ching Po Lin - , Fudan University, National Yang-Ming University (Author)
  • Ed Bullmore - , University of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (Author)
  • Gunter Schumann - , Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Fudan University (Author)
  • Barbara J. Sahakian - , Fudan University, University of Cambridge (Author)
  • Jianfeng Feng - , Fudan University, University of Warwick (Author)

Abstract

Psychological androgyny has long been associated with greater cognitive flexibility, adaptive behavior, and better mental health, but whether a similar concept can be defined using neural features remains unknown. Using the neuroimaging data from 9620 participants, we found that global functional connectivity was stronger in the male brain before middle age but became weaker after that, when compared with the female brain, after systematic testing of potentially confounding effects. We defined a brain gender continuum by estimating the likelihood of an observed functional connectivity matrix to represent a male brain. We found that participants mapped at the center of this continuum had fewer internalizing symptoms compared with those at the 2 extreme ends. These findings suggest a novel hypothesis proposing that there exists a neuroimaging concept of androgyny using the brain gender continuum, which may be associated with better mental health in a similar way to psychological androgyny.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3021-3033
Number of pages13
JournalCerebral cortex
Volume31 (2021)
Issue number6
Early online date20 Jan 2021
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2021
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 33471126
ORCID /0000-0001-5398-5569/work/161890727
ORCID /0000-0002-8493-6396/work/161891646

Keywords

Keywords

  • androgyny, brain functional network, sex difference

Library keywords