title: Brain structures in the sciences and humanities.
abstract: The areas of academic interest (sciences or humanities) and area of study have been known to be associated with a number of factors associated with autistic traits. However, despite the vast amount of literature on the psychological and physiological characteristics associated with faculty membership, brain structural characteristics associated with faculty membership have never been investigated directly. In this study, we used voxel-based morphometry to investigate differences in regional gray matter volume (rGMV)/regional white matter volume (rWMV) between science and humanities students to test our hypotheses that brain structures previously robustly shown to be altered in autistic subjects are related to differences in faculty membership. We examined 312 science students (225 males and 87 females) and 179 humanities students (105 males and 74 females). Whole-brain analyses of covariance revealed that after controlling for age, sex, and total intracranial volume, the science students had significantly larger rGMV in an anatomical cluster around the medial prefrontal cortex and the frontopolar area, whereas the humanities students had significantly larger rWMV in an anatomical cluster mainly concentrated around the right hippocampus. These anatomical structures have been linked to autism in previous studies and may mediate cognitive functions that characterize differences in faculty membership. The present results may support the ideas that autistic traits and characteristics of the science students compared with the humanities students share certain characteristics from neuroimaging perspectives. This study improves our understanding of differences in faculty membership which is the link among cognition, biological factors, disorders, and education (academia).
authors: Division of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, 4-1 Seiryo-cho, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8575, Japan. takehi@idac.tohoku.ac.jp.
authors: Hikaru
authors: H
authors: Takeuchi
authors: Division of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, 4-1 Seiryo-cho, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8575, Japan.|Division of Medical Neuroimaging Analysis, Department of Community Medical Supports, Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.|Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
authors: Yasuyuki
authors: Y
authors: Taki
authors: Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.|Department of Functional Brain Imaging, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
authors: Atsushi
authors: A
authors: Sekiguchi
authors: Human and Social Response Research Division, International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
authors: Rui
authors: R
authors: Nouchi
authors: Smart Ageing International Research Center, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
authors: Yuka
authors: Y
authors: Kotozaki
authors: Department of Functional Brain Imaging, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
authors: Seishu
authors: S
authors: Nakagawa
authors: Department of Functional Brain Imaging, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
authors: Carlos Makoto
authors: CM
authors: Miyauchi
authors: Department of Functional Brain Imaging, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
authors: Kunio
authors: K
authors: Iizuka
authors: Department of Functional Brain Imaging, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.|Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan.
authors: Ryoichi
authors: R
authors: Yokoyama
authors: Department of Functional Brain Imaging, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
authors: Takamitsu
authors: T
authors: Shinada
authors: Department of Functional Brain Imaging, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
authors: Yuki
authors: Y
authors: Yamamoto
authors: Department of Functional Brain Imaging, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
authors: Sugiko
authors: S
authors: Hanawa
authors: Smart Ageing International Research Center, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
authors: Tsuyoshi
authors: T
authors: Araki
authors: Division of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, 4-1 Seiryo-cho, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8575, Japan.
authors: Hiroshi
authors: H
authors: Hashizume
authors: Division of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, 4-1 Seiryo-cho, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8575, Japan.
authors: Yuko
authors: Y
authors: Sassa
authors: Division of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, 4-1 Seiryo-cho, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8575, Japan.|Department of Functional Brain Imaging, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.|Smart Ageing International Research Center, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
authors: Ryuta
authors: R
authors: Kawashima
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001690:Biological Science Disciplines; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D006809:Humanities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex; D013334:Students; D066127:White Matter / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Academia; Area of study; Cognitive functions; Humanities; Sciences; Voxel-based morphometry