Sex differences II

Question 1

Organisational effects occur only during…

Answer 1

critical periods

Question 2

Which 3 things are needed for heterosexual mating to occur in mammals?

Answer 2

Attractivity, Proceptivity and Receptivity

Question 3

Give an example of spinal mechanisms relevant to male copulatory behaviour in rats?

Answer 3

There are a collection of motor neurons in the lower lumbar spinal chord that controls the bulbocavernosus muscle at the base of the penis. Testosterone is responsible for the masculinising effect of this muscle.

Question 4

Which two areas of the brain in rodents are sexually dimorphic? What does this mean?

Answer 4

Medial preoptic area and the medial amygdala. They are critical for sexually dimorphic behaviour, testosterone for males and oestradiol and progesterone for females.

Question 5

Similar to the SNB in rodents, in humans, the ventrolateral cell group of Onuf’s nucleus in the spinal cord is larger in….

Answer 5

larger males than females

Question 6

Which brain area is sexually dimorphic in humans?

Answer 6

The preoptic area of the hypothalamus

Question 7

Ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus in rodents is critical for which female behaviour?

Answer 7

lordosis

Question 8

In rodents, aspects of ______ are mediated by brain regions that overlap between regions implicated in reproductive behaviour.

Answer 8

aggression

Question 9

Which sex on average has an advantage in perceptual speed, visual memory, verbal fluency and fine motor control?

Answer 9

Females

Question 10

Which sex on average has an advantage in spatial rotation, paper folding, target accuracy and embedded figures?

Answer 10

Males

Question 11

A study by Gron et al,2000 found that men use their hippocampus more than women in order to….

Answer 11

navigate a virtual maze

Question 12

What is an effect size?

Answer 12

the difference between two means compared to the size of the standard deviation