Analysis of cross-sectional area measurements of the corpus callosum adjusted for brain size in male and female subjects from childhood to adulthood

Rauch, Ronald A.; Jinkins, J. R.

doi:10.1016/0166-4328(94)90119-8

Cited by 99 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Given previous reports (Allen et Rauch and Jinkins, 1994), both linear and quadratic age terms were included. The DTI metrics (e.g., FA,λ ⊥ ) were modeled (fitted) for both males and females as y f =β 0 +β 1 *age+β 2 *age 2 , then the general least-squares methods were used to compute the coefficients, standard errors and their significance using analysis-of-variance (ANOVA) methods (Hasan et al, 2007b;Hasan et al, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diffusion tensor quantification of the human midsagittal corpus callosum subdivisions across the lifespan

et al. 2008

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The midsagittal corpus callosum (CC) cross-sectional area subdivisions have been used as early and sensitive markers of human brain white matter connectivity, development, natural aging and disease. Despite the simplicity and conspicuity of the appearance of the CC on anatomical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the published quantitative MRI literature on its regional sex and age trajectories are contradictory. The availability of noninvasive quantitative methods to assess the CC regions across the human lifespan would help clarify its contribution to behavior and cognition. In this report, we extended the utility of a recently described semi-automated diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) tissue segmentation method to utilize the high orientation contrast of the CC on DTI. Using optimized DTI methods on a cohort of 121 right-handed children and adults aged 6-68 years, we examined the CC areas and corresponding DTI metrics of the different functionally specialized sectors of the CC. Both the area and fractional anisotropy metrics followed inverted U-shaped curves, while the mean and radial diffusivities followed U-curve reflecting white matter progressive and regressive myelination dynamics that continue into young adulthood.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diffusion tensor quantification of the human midsagittal corpus callosum subdivisions across the lifespan

et al. 2008

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“…Absolute corpus callosum size A total of 47 of the 49 studies evaluated the sex difference in CC area (Table A2) and five (A5, A10, A17, A23, A49; (91,111,25,126,105)) found an effect significant at α = 0.05 (two-tailed), all with a larger male average, as is expected from simple allometry. However, several others found positive d values short of significance.…”

Section: 5mentioning

confidence: 94%

“…In the post-mortem studies, most of the subjects had died from disease processes which, along with any medical treatment, may have changed morphological brain structure. Several MRI studies used neurologically normal subjects, but others examined patients with schizophrenia (A5, A19, A29, A42, A49; (91,56,104,130,105)), Alzheimer' s disease (A7; (132)), AIDS (A40; (82)), multiple sclerosis (A10, A40; (111,82)), unipolar depression (A43; (131)), bipolar affective disorder (A19; (56)) or gender dysphoria (A33; (45)). For these studies, all of which reported data separately for neurologically normal comparison groups, our review of sex differences included only the normal groups.…”

Section: Methods Utilized In Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ten of these (A5, A14, A19, A29, A33, A35, A38, A43, A48, A49; (92,106,56,104,45,2,66,131,101,105)) found no sex difference in the ratio, whereas eight found females to have a significantly higher ratio (A4, A8, A15, A24, A25, A27, A37, A39; (67,76,117,31,44,65,66)). In some instances, a sex difference that was apparent with a ratio measure was not significant when analysis of covariance was used with the same data (e.g.…”

Section: Relative Corpus Callosum Sizementioning

confidence: 98%

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Sex Differences in the Human Corpus Callosum: Myth or Reality?

Bishop

Wahłsten

1997

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

331

160

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Abstract:It has been claimed that the human corpus callosum shows sex differences, and in particular that the splenium (the posterior portion) is larger in women than in men. Data collected before 1910 from cadavers indicate that, on average, males have larger brains than females and that the average size of their corpus callosum is larger. A meta-analysis of 49 studies published since 1980 reveals no significant sex difference in the size or shape of the splenium of the corpus callosum, whether or not an appropriate adjustment is made for brain size using analysis of covariance or linear regression. It is argued that a simple ratio of corpus callosum size to whole brain size is not an appropriate way to analyse the data and can create a false impression of a sex difference in the corpus callosum. The recent studies, most of which used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), confirm the earlier findings of larger average brain size and overall corpus callosum size for males. The widespread belief that women have a larger splenium than men and consequently think differently is untenable. Causes of and means to avoid such a false impression in future research are discussed. Keywords: allometry, brain size, effect size, literature review, meta-analysis, morphometry, ratio measures, statistical power Article:IF men and women think differently, their brains must also differ in some way. This holds true, even if the difference emanates largely from experience, because experience changes the brain (39,114). The size of cognitive gender differences has never been very large (58,69), and the difference has almost vanished for several abilities in more recently published reports (47,70). Of course, not all measures of behavior show small sex differences. For example, in the USA, boys possess considerably more knowledge about electronics, automobiles and machinery (58). Among 21 indicators of sexual behavior and sexuality, two (attitude towards casual intercourse and incidence of masturbation) exhibit male-female differences greater than 0.8 standard deviation (95), which is the conventional criterion for a large group difference in psychological research (27), although most (18 out of 21) show differences less than 0.5 standard deviation (SD). However, on tests of cognitive abilities, sex differences are usually small (58). In a review of 287 effect sizes for spatial visualization abilities (118), the average sex difference was 0.37 SD and only one kind of test (mental rotation) met the criterion for even a moderate effect size. For 254 effect sizes involving mathematical performance in 100 published studies, the male average exceeded the female average by only 0.2 SD, but for studies in which the samples were drawn from the general population, females scored slightly better than males (70). Given such small cognitive gender differences, it seems likely that only the most sensitive and refined neurological techniques will be able to locate the relevant difference in brain tissue.Neuroanatomists have scrutinized thousands of pre...

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“…Such broadly activating influences might not be limited to the from higher sensory processing areas within the same hemisphere. Such recurrent projections into layer I developmental period, as electrophysiological investigations in adult animals have shown that layer I stimuhave been shown to run from S2 to S1 in somatosensory cortex (Cauller et al 1998) and from V3 to V2 lation can evoke a widespread and long-lasting excitatory postsynaptic potential in layer V pyramidal to V1 in visual cortex (Wong-Riley 1978;Rockland and Pandya 1979). In monkey auditory cortex, projeccells (Cauller and Connors 1994).…”

Section: Development Of Axons In the Marginal Layermentioning

confidence: 99%