Men and Women Respond to Danger Differently

Latest studies have suggested that men and women respond differently to danger.

This follows tests on the brain by scanning it with a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine. The studies were conducted by a team from Krakow in Poland and the fMRI was used to assess the brain activity of 40 volunteers who were subjected to various images.

The study revealed that men primarily showed signs of brain activity in areas which decided what course of action to take to avoid or confront danger. 

The women were shown to reveal more activity in the emotional centre’s of the brain.

The study was presented to the Radiological Society of North America by the researchers based at Jagiellonian Hospital in Krakow in Poland. The findings came from the brain scans of 21 men and 19 women.

The test involved displaying images and objects from ordinary life and which were designed to evoke varying emotional states. Whilst being shown the images, the volunteers brain activities were closely monitored.

Negative Response

The test was split into two different “tests”. On the first test “negative pictures” were presented to the group and in the second test positive pictures were displayed.

Women displayed stronger and more activity within the left thalamus when shown the negative images. The left thalamus is the area of the brain that relays sensory information to pleasure and pain areas of the brain. 

However with the men, when shown negative images they displayed more activity in the left insula of the brain. This is a key area which controls involuntary functions including respiration, heart rate and digestion. Activity in this area primes the body to flee from danger or confront it. This is the “fight or flight” response.

From this study of negative images, the researchers found that men are more likely to take action than women when confronted with a dangerous situation.

Positive images

Women showed stronger activity in an area of the brain associated with memory when shown “positive images.” In men, the area associated with visual processing showed increased activity.

From this the researchers discovered that men would responses would be less emotional, whilst the women would analyse positive stimuli in a broader social context and therefore more likely to associate positive images with happier memories.