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Cerebral Cortex Advance Access originally published online on June 14, 2007
Cerebral Cortex 2008 18(3):534-540; doi:10.1093/cercor/bhm079
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Morphology of the Ventral Frontal Cortex: Relationship to Femininity and Social Cognition

Jessica L. Wood1,2,3, Dwayne Heitmiller1,2,3, Nancy C. Andreasen1,2,3,4 and Peg Nopoulos1,2,3

1 Mental Health Clinical Research Center, Iowa City, IA, USA, 2 Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA, USA, 3 University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA, USA, 4 The MIND Institute and the Department of Psychiatry, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

Address correspondence to Peg Nopoulos, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Psychiatry Research, 1-180 MEB, 500 Newton Road, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA. Email: peggy-nopoulos{at}uiowa.edu.

Females have been shown in a number of studies to be more adept in social perception compared with males. In addition, studies have reported that brain regions important in interpretation of nonverbal social cues, such as the ventral frontal cortex (VFC), are morphologically different between genders. To investigate the relationship between the structure of the VFC and social cognition, gray matter volume and surface area of the VFC were measured on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans from 30 men and 30 women matched for age and IQ. The VFC was subdivided into the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and the straight gyrus (SG). The SG, but not the OFC, was proportionately larger in women. A subset of subjects was administered the Interpersonal Perception Task (IPT), a test of social perceptiveness, and the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ), a scale of femininity and masculinity. Identification with more feminine traits on the PAQ correlated with greater SG gray matter volume and surface area. In addition, higher degrees of femininity correlated with better performance on the IPT. Taken together, these data suggest a complex relationship between femininity, social cognition, and the structure of the SG.

Key Words: brain • gender differences • neuroimaging • sex characteristics • social cognition • straight gyrus


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[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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