title: Sex differences in neocortical structure and cognitive performance: A surface-based morphometry study.
abstract: On average, men show larger brain volumes than women. Regional differences have been also observed, although most of the available studies apply voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Reports applying surface-based morphometry (SBM) have been focused mainly on cortical thickness (CT). Here we apply SBM for obtaining global and regional indices of CT, cortical surface area (CSA), and cortical gray matter volume (CGMV) from samples of men (N=40) and women (N=40) matched for their performance on four cognitive factors varying in their complexity: processing speed, attention control, working memory capacity, and fluid intelligence. These were the main findings: 1) CT and CSA produced very weak correlations in both sexes, 2) men showed larger values in CT, CSA, and CGMV, and 3) cognitive performance was unrelated to brain structural variation within sexes. Therefore, we found substantial group differences in brain structure, but there was no relationship with cognitive performance both between and within-sexes.
authors.affiliation: Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: sergio.escorial@psi.ucm.es.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Escorial
authors.affiliation: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Francisco J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Román
authors.affiliation: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain; Hospital Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Kenia
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Martínez
authors.affiliation: Universidad Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Burgaleta
authors.affiliation: Montreal Neurological Institute, MNI, Canada.
authors.forename: Sherif
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karama
authors.affiliation: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Colom
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019579:Neocortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cognition; Cortical gray matter volume; Cortical surface area; Cortical thickness; Sex differences