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As is nearly always the case with sex differences in brain tissue, the variation between sexes is swamped by the variation within either sex. Here are some fig

by fwip 8y ago

As is nearly always the case with sex differences in brain tissue, the variation between sexes is swamped by the variation within either sex. Here are some figures from this paper that illustrate what I mean: https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1878929318301245-mmc4_lrg.jpg https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S18789293183012... https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S1878929318301245-mmc5_lrg.jpg https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S18789293183012... This is not intended to disparage their work. Rather, I mean to clarify that sex is not particularly predictive of what is being measured, and differences only appear when observed in aggregate.

insickness 8y ago
This is like saying that the variation in height between women is much greater than the variation in difference between men and women. The outcome is still the same: The average man is taller than the average woman. When the variation is cognitive, it will produce very real world statistical differences between men and women. You can't pick a random woman and a random man and assume the woman is inclined toward X and the man isn't. The statistical difference is too small to predict that. But take a thousand men and a thousand women and the percentages will bear out the small statistical difference.
- fwip 8y ago
  "Brains appear different in an MRI" is several steps removed from behavioral differences. Height is 0 steps removed from height.