Neuroplasticity

The female brain is geared for complex thinking and reasoning, weighing all their options, carefully and thoroughly as discussed in my last blog. It can also be concluded that where women look for and remember context, men look for and remember factual content.
I’m very interested about the relatively new branch of neuroscience called Neuroplasticity, which studies how we take the brain we were born with and grow and change it throughout our lifetime, even in old age. When we studied the brain in our youth this was thought to be impossible.

Research in Neuroplasticity shows that the brain is capable of change as a result of experience.
UCLA Med School, Clinical Prof of Psychiatry, Daniel J. Siegel, MD, writes that the brain/body is the “Physical structure and mechanisms for the flow of information and energy throughout the system”. And he defines the mind relative to the brain, within the context of relationship with others and the outer world. He says that the mind is “Embodied and embedded within a relational process that regulates the flow of energy and information”.

In 2001 Leslie Brothers, PhD, in agreement with Siegel, says that “Our ‘neural machinery’ enables participation”

In summary Segal says that not only does the brain change the mind but the mind also changes the brain.

I look forward to interacting with you. Please share your thoughts, comments and ideas with me.

Best Regards

Mary

The Female Brain

Thank you for all your feedback and responses to date I do hope that you are finding my thoughts, research and observations interesting.

As stated in an earlier blog post the male brain is left hemisphere bias and that they often bond through actions rather than words.

In the same instance the female brain excels at receiving information from both hemispheres concurrently through thoughts, feelings and words. They are capable of processing complex emotional and sensual information, and tracking the process with words i.e: real ’multi-tasking’.

The female brain is geared for complex thinking and reasoning, weighing all their options, carefully and thoroughly. Women tend to be relational, where men are transactional (Gurian). We are forever seeking order and cooperation, ‘tending and befriending’. Our greater cortical connectivity and activity seen on neural maps are better connected throughout the brain resulting in whole-brained thinking.

This is not to say that gut or intuitive feelings are overridden just added to thoughts for consideration. Where women look for and remember context, men look for and remember factual content.

The female brain is wonderful at remembering emotional and sensual information. It is continually processing information internally, constantly assessing and re-assessing.

The female brain is always busy re-running sentences, tones of voice, gestures, facial expressions, meetings, arguments with a colleague, etc. It can be concluded that the female brain has no ‘off’ state.

I look forward to receiving your thoughts and experiences with regards to my blogs please feel free to get involved, share your thoughts, comments and ideas with me.

Best Regards

Mary

The Male Brain

So after 1000’s of years of evolution the male neurobiology was adapted to ‘outdoor thinking,’ and have only come’ indoors’ since the Industrial Revolution whereas female neurobiology has naturally adapted to nurturing, educating and managing people and processes, as discussed in my previous post.

The male brain excels at abstract conceptualizing which is left hemisphere bias. They have a spatial awareness that enables them to track objects on the move in space and allows them to excel in mechanical design. The male brain boasts linear logic, great for rapid short-term problem-solving and expedient decision-making which often results in men taking physical action quickly, with a fair amount of bravery.

Competition, aggression, establishing social hierarchy, territoriality and tenacity are all traits that are more likely to be found in males due to the levels of Vasopressin and Testosterone present in the male brain. Men tend to bond through actions rather than words.

The male brain is indeed driven towards sex and men do find it easier to “switch off” than their female counterparts.

According to neuro-researcher Michael Gurian in “What Could He be Thinking?” (2008):

“Men tend to berate each other, cut each other down, negate each other, and generally treat each other in ways women find nasty and mean. Yet the men laugh, jostle, jest, motivate, and seem to feel helped, supported, and loved in the process.”

Please share your thoughts, comments and ideas with me. I look forward to interacting with you.

Best Regards

Mary

Neurobiology – The Big Differences

In my previous blog post I explained in short that neuroscientists have found that the 8% difference between the male and female brain has already generated over 100 differences with this number still growing as more and more research is done.

It goes without saying that after 1000s of years of evolution, the male neurobiology was naturally adapted to hunting, farming, protecting and building, in essence, an outdoor way of thinking. As a result men have only ‘come indoors’, so to speak, en masse since the Industrial Revolution (1780 in Europe, 1860 in South Africa), but this change in the course of evolution is not a long time period.

The history of female neurobiology is therefore naturally adapted to nurturing, educating and managing people and processes; these are the things that women continue to do at home or in the workplace.

Please do get involved, share your thoughts, comments and ideas with me. I look forward to hearing your ideas and interacting with you.

Best Regards

Mary

Overview of Brain Differences & Neuroplasticity

As I briefly explained in my previous blog post, there’s an 8% difference between the female and male brain, which seems like very little until you consider that the difference the 2-5% 8% difference between a human and chimpanzee brain where we share 95 to 98 percent of the same DNA, according to the Jane Goodall Institute in Washington, D.C. More information about this report can be found at Monkeyland.

It’s time to explore more deeply into the differences that we all see in each other, brain based “sex” distinctions rather than to rely on culturally driven differences of past.

Neuroscientists found that the 8% has already generated over 100 differences and this number is growing. Let’s face it we all live with these differences every day, some subtle and some not so subtle.

Neuroscientists are still discovering how many of these differences are driven by DNA and hormonal variations i.e.: “biologically driven” and how many of these are considered “lifetime influences” - those driven by upbringing and culture which are referred to as the neuroplastic influences.

Please feel free to get involved, share your thoughts, comments and ideas with me. I look forward to interacting with you.

Best Regards

Mary

Brain Exchange Solutions

As many of you may know the focus of my attention over the past five years has been my fascination of the brain with particular emphasis regarding the differences between the male and female brain.

While writing my thesis for my Mphil at the University of Stellenbosch Business School I have been keeping updated as to the latest research in neuroplasticity and how you can change the way that you think and act for yourself and support that change in others.

What I have found is that there are clear gender distinctions, 92% of the brain is the same in both males and females, but the remaining 8% makes all the difference! Men and women think and make decisions, process feelings and relate differently. ‘Sex differences’ in the brain are genetic while gender roles and behaviors may be influenced by cultural distinctions.  I feel that all of our societal institutions need to be adjusted to take these sex differences into consideration.

My research will aid others in understanding how to work and be with other people of the same and opposite sex whether it’s for coaching, in business environments or even for personal relationships.

Please feel free to get involved, share your thoughts, comments and ideas with me. I look forward to interacting with you.

Best Regards

Mary