title: Gender differences in regional cerebral activity during the perception of emotion: a functional MRI study.
abstract: Whether men activate different brain regions during various emotions compared to women or whether gender differences exist in transient emotional states has been the subject of only few studies. We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate gender differences during the perception of positive or negative emotions. The experiment comprised two emotional conditions (pleasant/unpleasant visual stimuli) during which fMRI data were acquired. Altogether, 38 healthy volunteers (19 males, 19 females) were investigated. When subtracting the activation values of men from those of women, suprathreshold positive signal changes were detected in the right posterior cingulate, the left putamen and the left cerebellum during positive mood induction, and in bilateral superior temporal gyri and cerebellar vermis during negative mood induction. The subtraction of activation values of women from those of men yielded no significant differences. Our findings suggest gender-related neural responses to emotional stimuli and could contribute to the understanding of mechanisms underlying gender-related vulnerability of the prevalence and severity of neuropsychiatric disorders.
authors.affiliation: Medical University Innsbruck, Department of Biological Psychiatry, Anichstrasse 35, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria. a.hofer@uibk.ac.at
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hofer
authors.forename: Christian M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Siedentopf
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ischebeck
authors.forename: Maria A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rettenbacher
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Verius
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Felber
authors.forename: W Wolfgang
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Fleischhacker
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology; D000679:Amygdala / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000502:physiology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D020534:Parahippocampal Gyrus / Q000502:physiology; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011699:Putamen / Q000502:physiology; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology