Do men really listen with just half a brain? Research sheds some light

By Troy Goodman
CNN.com Health writer

(CNN) -- It's no surprise for many women -- new research suggests men listen with only one side of their brain, while women use both.

But scientists involved in the study cautioned the findings don't offer concrete evidence that women are better listeners than men -- a question lead researcher Dr. Michael Phillips calls too "dangerous to ask" at this point in his research.

"Our brain findings on listening do not mean that either men or women do it better or worse, they just appear to do it differently," said Phillips, a neuroradiologist at the Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis.

In his study of 10 men and 10 women, Phillips said brain scans showed that men listened to language using mostly the left sides of their brains, while women appeared to use both sides. The left side of the brain is classically associated with listening to language; the right side is known to focus on more creative tasks, such as performing music and understanding spatial relationships, and not listening.

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, currently underway in Chicago, Illinois. Phillips, who talked to CNN.Com by phone from his office in Indianapolis, said the research would likely be published in the journal Radiology sometime next year.

"We're not really suggesting anything about ability or performance of the task," Phillips said. "But what we have shown here is that the processing is different ... It may mean that men and women's brains are different."

If there are gender differences, he said, then brain surgeons may one day be better able to recognize or avoid certain cortex regions depending on whether they're operating on a man or a woman.

To gather his data, Phillips and others used functional magnetic resonance imaging, called fMRI, to measure brain activity by producing multidimensional images of blood flow to various parts of the brain.

The study's subjects wore special headphones rigged to allow them to be analyzed while they were positioned inside an fMRI scanner. As images were being taken, the participants listened to the audiocassette version of John Grisham's novel "The Partner" played forward, then played backward.

Listening forward resulted in increased blood flow in the left temporal lobes of the men's brains and in both the left and right temporal lobes in the women. The period when the tape was played backward was used to help distinguish between brain activity focused on language, rather than auditory tones.

Phillips study adds to fMRI research done by a doctoral student at University College London that found certain emotions -- especially romantic love -- have different effects on the brain.

The latest findings will also help scientists working on improving technologies such as fMRI or other diagnostic tools to be aware of gender differences in patients, Phillips said.

Surgeon General: Boys more likely to suffer attention-deficit disorder
September 19, 2000

The Functional MRI Network
Brigham and Women's Hospital fact sheet on brain MRI
Functional and Stereotactic Neurosurgery Link on imaging
Indiana University School of Medicine

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