hormonii 2

Question 1

what is activating effect

Answer 1

reversible changes that in the properties of cells

typically induced by hormones that are present onto the cell receptor for a short amount of time

Question 2

what is organisational effect

Answer 2

a permanent or semi permanent change in the strucutre of the nervous system

change occurs during sensitive periods

the changes happen because steroid hormone - which is able to cross the cell membrance bc its fat solouable and it binds onto a recpetor that is a steroid receptor and enters the cell nuclues where its able to modefy or induce changes in gene activity

Question 3

what is sexual development

Answer 3

development of sexual organs
and secondaty sexual feautres - breaking of the male voice

sexual identity

changes in the nervous system

Question 4

how do changes occur

Answer 4

stage 1 - undifferentiated stage
2- sexual differentiation

Question 5

undifferentiated stage

Answer 5

earlystage that covers the very first weeks of gestation

between fertilisation and week 7

during this point, there is a strucute called gonad which is identical in males and females

gonad will become either ovaries or testies

strucutre has power to develop in either one on the other depending on genetic profile

Question 6

sxual differentiation stage

Answer 6

at about 7 weeks
gonat becomes ovaries or testies

Question 7

how does that happen

Answer 7

1. organisatinal effects in physical development

y chromsone is a sex determinant gene
makes gonat develop into testies

of y is not present then the gonat becomes an ovary

this is dependent on genetic profile
boys have y chromsone

at abotu 9 weeks of gestation, thre is another key transoframtion
testis produce steroid hormones called androgene - androgene include one hormone claled testosterone

Question 8

testosteronq

Answer 8

induces or triggers the development of internal and external genitalia in males

also inhibts the development of similar structures in females such that females will develop female genitalia

testoster induces changes in the nervous system

Question 9

how

Answer 9

testosterone reaches the brain
they hypothalamus
hypothalamus is divided into different parts called nuclei that have different functions

one of this nuclei is sexually dimorphic nuclues - located in an area that is preoptic area

sexually dimorphic nuclues tends to be larger in males

Answer 10

when test reaches the brain, it csn cross the membrance and its chemically transformed into another type of hormone that is estradiol

estradiol can reach the nucleus membrance and reach centre of the cell

this will trigger a no of reactions that achieve the masculinisation of the brain

Question 11

in females

Answer 11

there is a natural death of sexually dimorphic nuclues which will prevent female brain from being masculinsed

Answer 12

genetic differentiation such that boys have a y chromosme
that will tranform gonat into testies

testies will secrete testosterone
test reaches the brain and triggers masculinisation of the brain

Question 13

changes occur during sensitive period

Answer 13

a period of maximum sensitivity
specific point in time during which certain changes occur such that they will not result in the same outcome if they were to happen at a different point in time

Question 14

gonadogenesis sensitive period in pre-natal development

Answer 14

typically starts about week 7 and end about week 9

Question 15

impact of sexual hormones on physical differences

Answer 15

full development of sexual organs

sex hormones in adolescnce will be accompanied by the appearance of other sexual behaviour

Question 16

imacpt of sexual hormoens on brain

Answer 16

when brain size is corrected by body size

gender differences in brain size

boys have a higher brain weight

left hempishere larger in females

right hemisphere larger in males

Answer 17

from recent studiess

gender differences in brain volume are specific for some areas of the brain

women show higher brain volumes in areas which are rich in eostrogen receptors - prefrtaonal regions

men show hgiher volume in medial and orbital frontal cortex and angular gyrus - higher density of androgen receptors

Question 18

size of corpus callosum

Answer 18

the fibres connecting the 2 hemsiphers

women have a larger corpus callosum -its thicker

consequence - faciliataion for womn to tansfer info between the 2 hemsiphers in a m ore efficent way

Question 19

brain wiring - connectivity between brain regions

Answer 19

in males the brain is well connected throughout

in females the connectivyt is focusing on frontal areas and they are more denseliy connected

Question 20

brain rate od brain development

Answer 20

during adolescnce girls are more mature

there is evidence that supports this observatio

certain processes are triggered later in boys than girls

girls begin maturation processes earluer

one maturation process is decrese in brain volume

brain is eliminating synapses that are irrelavant - synaptoic pruning

this allows brain to improve communciation between different regions such as the frontal lobes

pruning happens later in boys

Question 21

how gender differences have been interpreted

Answer 21

1. male brain and female brain
2. brains are intersex
3. gender similarity is more common thatn gender disimilarity

Question 22

male brain and female brain

Answer 22

the idea that our physical differences and gender dissimilairty is guiding sex linked traits which are persistent across time and cluture bc they are passed on bia inherited biological sex

we can have a female brain which is not so prototipically female

Question 23

evidence for male and female brain

Answer 23

there are differences in brain strucutre which are teflected in different higher congitive abilities

men - spatial rotation
women - verbal fluency

Question 24

task assessing higher cognitive functions in males and females

Answer 24

there are certain tasks in which males perform higher than femaes

task requires spatial relation
a contained has a certain level of liquid who are asked to match with a container that is tilted

men are faster and more efficient at indicating that this upright container matches the tilted one

men are more accurate at indicating which cubes correspond to the plan - task requring mental rotation

females appear to be faster at matching number to symbols

they are faster at filling up a set of words tha begin with a given letter - verbal fluency abilities

Question 25

brains are intersex

Answer 25

although we have a distinction between male and female genitalia, this disctinition does not mirror a distinction at the brain level

this suggests that most brain consist of a mosaic features - some are more common in males and vice versa

each of us have prototypical female features and other prototypical male features combined

Question 26

study

Answer 26

females did have on average more prototypicall female areas but they also had male protoypical areas

each participant had a predominantely either pink or blue amount but there was always a combination of the 2 such that certain parts of the brain corresponded to more female or male brain - and some parts were more simialr to the opposite gender

Question 27

anatomical evidence

Answer 27

there are certain brain regions that are larger in males than femakes

part of the hypothalamus - the intermediate nuclues is on average 2x as large in males

however about a third of males the intermediate nuclues is the size of typical of females

Question 28

cognitive evidence

Answer 28

tendency to identify certain psychological traits, attitudes or behaviours as gender oriented

there is also a no of situations in which somebody who is a man has female features like certain hobbies or personality traits that are on average associated to females

Question 29

the gender similairty hypothesis

Answer 29

male and females are more simialr than different on most variables

Question 30

cognitive evidence

Answer 30

46 meta analysis suggest that gender differences exist but are reality tiny and certinly not significant

there are certain areas that are typically associated with gender differenees which some studies suggest this difference is not relevant up to a certain age - boys and girls up to age 9 and 10 will perform equally well in science and maths ability tasks

the sterotype might have certain influcnes

Answer 31

the disceprency between what we see at a certain age and what we see later one is more likley due to social attitudes and social biases rather than actual performance

a study in which partiicpants were tested in a maths related test which was either easy or difficult

ppt perfomred similar in easy condition with a difference indifficult condition

when ppts were told that the task they were going to perform was going to reveal gender differences, a gender difference emerged in performance

female partiicpants performed worse and male ppts performed way better making the gap much bigger

Answer 32

tendency of males to show higher peformance in tasksmthat require spatial orientation using a map

tendency of women showing a better orientation when they use ladn marks

when the possibility of only using one of these, gender differnces are no longer present

some gender differences might relfect strategies which could be different but they are not the equivalent of abilities