Sex and Gender Identity Are Linked Differently to Brain Activity

Sex and Gender Identity (Photo – geneticliteracyproject.org)

Discussion about gender identity has become a mainstream topic, with questions surrounding how the brain is wired and how behavior is influenced by someone’s sex or gender.

By News Desk

New research from The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research published in Science Advances shows neurobiological underpinnings of sex and gender in children. It discusses how sex (assigned at birth) and gender (identity and expression) influence the brain, and ultimately a person’s health.

Led by Elvisha Dhamala, PhD, the study analyzed data from nearly 4,800 children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study – the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the United States. The study finds that sex and gender have unique and overlapping associations with brain functional connections.

Specifically,

• Sex is primarily linked to connectivity within motor, visual, control and limbic networks.
• Gender-related networks are more widely distributed throughout the brain.

These sex and gender differences in brain connectivity might contribute to differences in brain-related illnesses.

Dr. Elvisha Dhamala (Photo – northwell.edu)

“Sex and gender have traditionally been conflated in research when they should have been studied separately,” said Dr. Dhamala. “This research sheds light on the complex and nuanced ways in which biological and environmental factors influence brain organization and shows the need to consider a person’s sex and gender to fully understand health and disease across the human lifespan.”

Using machine learning to predict sex and gender based on brain connectivity, Dr. Dhamala determined that the two are linked to different parts of the brain. This underscores that sex and gender are distinct from one another.

Prior studies have found that people assigned female at birth are more likely to experience mood and anxiety disorders while people assigned male at birth are more likely to be diagnosed with substance use or attention deficit disorders. The present study shows that while sex is linked to specific brain networks, gender’s influence spreads more widely across the brain.