H amann, Stephan 2005, Sex differences in the responses of the human amygdala .

1. Hamann, Stephan 2005,Sex differences in the responses of the human amygdala. Aim/Background (a review) Amygdalaplays a role in sexual behaviour. Evidence: animal and human studies. Where: temporal lobeseizuresnear the amygdala. Specific sex differences in men and women. Evolutionaryand sociobiologicaltheories.

2. Hamann, Stephan 2005,Sex differences in the responses of the human amygdala. Studies/Method: Non-human studies: Studies shows a differencebetweenappetitive (smellolfactory) sexual behaviourswhichinvolves motivation toobtain a sexual reward i.e. desire or wanting. And consummatory (female rat is close) sexual behaviourswhichinvolveobtaining a reward i.e. copulation.

3. Hamann, Stephan 2005,Sex differences in the responses of the human amygdala. Studies/Method: Lesions to the amygdalaimpaired the ability of male rats torespondtoolfactory (smell) and other sexual cues from a respectivefemale. Lesions to the female rats didn’taffect the sexual behavoiur at all. Localization of function and gender differences as this is not the case in female rats. Appetitive sexual motivation affected is crucial for malereproductionaccordingtothisstudy.

4. Hamann, Stephan 2005,Sex differences in the responses of the human amygdala. Studies/Method: Human studies (drawn on previous animal studies): fMRIneuroimagingtoexamine sex differences in responsestoappetitivevisual sexual stimuli. Hypothesiswastocompare men and women on theirresponsestovisual sexual stimuli. Participants: 14 men and 14 women. Method: theyviewed sexual arousingphotographs, neutral photographs, or a controlcondition in which a blank screenwith a cross waspresented.

5. Hamann, Stephan 2005,Sex differences in the responses of the human amygdala. Findings: Primaryfindingwasthat the amygdala and hypothalamusexihibitedmoreactivation in men than in womenwhenviewing the same sexuallyarousingvisual stimuli. Especially in the leftamygdala in men (localization of function). The findingsweresupported by a studyusingshorter versions of erotic films. This is a design more sensitive to rapid changes in amygdalaactivity, (Karama et al 2000). + the sex differences parallells withfindings of prior animal studies. + Neuroimaging supports amygdalaactivity in other forms of appetitive motivation food, drugsetz.

6. Hamann, Stephan 2005,Sex differences in the responses of the human amygdala. Clinical implications: Sex differences in the amygdala’sresponseshavebeencited by severalauthors as a potentiallyimportantfactorthatmayexplainwhysome disorders aremore common in men or women. Voyeurism is more prevalent in men thanwomenwhich marks a preferencetowatchothersundress or in a sexual relation. Typicallybegins in adolescense. Otherdisorders such as depression, posttraumatic stress, anxietyetz. Aremore prevalent in women. Womentendtoputmoreefforttomemories and aresomhowaffected of them negative or positive. The same experience is seen in the sexual difference.

7. Hamann, Stephan 2005,Sex differences in the responses of the human amygdala. Issues for discussion: Correlationalstudy? p.29 Whatabout the effects of different hormones on sexual responses? p.49 Whatabout social experiences of men and women? Ethics? p.45 TOK box. Non-human research? fMRI? p.45 Localization of function? p.44-45

8. Rupp, H & Wallen K. (2008). Sex Differences in Response to Visual Sexual Stimuli: A Review Aim/Background: This review discusses what is known about human sex differences in response to visual sexual stimuli and possible influences contributing to this sex difference Important to understand both cognitive, physiological, biological as well as a socio- cultural explenation.

9. Rupp, H & Wallen K. (2008). Sex Differences in Response to Visual Sexual Stimuli: A Review Method: A review from studies of different academical disciplins.

10. Rupp, H & Wallen K. (2008). Sex Differences in Response to Visual Sexual Stimuli: A Review Findings: Reaches the same resultsthat Hamann. Sexual visual stimuli mayhave a gender specificrelatedeffect. Western culture has given men more sexual freedom and constrained women more in the display of sexual motivation or interest in sexual material, a double standard that exists even to some degree today. Not onlypopular television, but also films used for sex education from 1990 to 2000 were found to portray a sexual double standard encouraging female passivity and caution.

11. Rupp, H & Wallen K. (2008). Sex Differences in Response to Visual Sexual Stimuli: A Review Findings: Thatthereareculturaldifferences in sexual attitudes suggests that social influences contribute to observed differences in sexual attitudes and behavior. Also, church attendance and identification with religion is correlated with decreased sexual permissiveness. If religiousteachingsstigmatize sexuality in women, this may influence women’ sexual attitudes and behaviors, and negatively bias their reported responses to sexual stimuli. differences between men and women in experience, gender roles, and feelings about sexuality may produce different subjective levels of arousal.

12. Rupp, H & Wallen K. (2008). Sex Differences in Response to Visual Sexual Stimuli: A Review Conclusion: The sex differences observed in subjective sexual arousal to visual sexual stimuli are possibly the combined product of social and biological influences on cognitive processes that direct the perception and assessment of these stimuli. Based on how men and women differently regard these stimuli as positive and arousing, there will result in apparent differences in physiological and psychologicalresponses. differences in response to visual sexual stimuli could be one example supporting the idea that the brains of men and women differ functionally in their environmental assessment to produce sexually differentiated behavioral response patterns.

13. Rupp, H & Wallen K. (2008). Sex Differences in Response to Visual Sexual Stimuli: A Review Issues: Whichimportanceshould a socio- culturalexplenationhave in gender sexuality? WhatcanRupp/Wallenstudyaddto the Hamann study?

14. Rapoport, J. 2001. Teenage brain: In progress. Aim/Background: ”Use it or lose it” Neural connections and synapsesthat get exercised and areretainedwhilethataredon’tarelost. This is what animal studies so far haveshown. Both genes and environmentdevelops the brain in different directions. Later maturation of the brain, though science doesn’tknowmuchabout. Whathappens in adolescentswithin the brain?

15. Rapoport, J. 2001. Teenage brain: In progress. Study/method: Longitudinell study of 145 children and adolescents. Following the same individualeverytwoyearsduring a long period. MRI imaging

16. Rapoport, J. 2001. Teenage brain: In progress. Findings: Theyfound an overproduction of gray matter in the frontal lobe cortex, the thinking part of the brain. The gray matterproductionbrought neurons and their bransch-like extensions, just prior topuberty. The thickeningpeaks at age 11 for girls and 12 for boys. Other studies havesuggested an increaseearly in life and pruning at around 18 month in the womb. Teenswithschizophreniashowed a loss of fourtimes as much gray matterthanhealthyteens. The area thatwasaffectedwas the executivefunctioningsuch as planning, reasoning etz in the frontal lobe.

17. Rapoport, J. 2001. Teenage brain: In progress. Findings: Interestingly the gray matterseemstogrow from back to front the whitematterseemsto go the oppositedirection and connectingbrain regions, (Toga, A). The whitematterbegingrowing in the frontal lobe and goes rearward and thensubsides at the end of puberty. The whitematter is a myelinlayer of insulationwhichprotects the fibres and connections in the brain and makes themmoreefficient (long distanceconnection). Thisgrowthcan be seenbetween 6-13 , by the end the whitematterreaches the parietal and temporal lobe and after it drops off sharply. Coincidingwith a critical period for languagelearning.

18. Rapoport, J. 2001. Teenage brain: In progress. Findings: The findings shows that the biggestdifferencebetween an young adult and a teen is the brainsmaturation and the whiteinsulationprotecting the gray matter (in the frontal cortex). Thisimplythat the brainsmaturationmeansthat the executivefunctioning and cogntiveprocesses (language, reasoning) is moremature in a young adult than in a teen and moreefficient.

19. Rapoport, J. 2001. Teenage brain: In progress. Findings: Another series of experiment conducted by Yurgelun-Todd, scannedsubjectsbrainactivity (fMRI) whileidentified emotions looking at faces. The studyIndicatedthatteensthatdidpoorly on the test activatedamygdala (fear, emotions, instincts) morethan the frontal lobe.

20. Rapoport, J. 2001. Teenage brain: In progress. Conclusions: The teenagebraindiffersrapidly from the adult brain. The braingrows in parallell direction.

21. Rapoport, J. 2001. Teenage brain: In progress. Issues: Whatcanwesayabot the localization of the brain? Ethicswithin the research? The longtudinell research method: strengths and limitations? Withthis information whatattitudeshouldwehavetowardteensuse of drugs and alcohol? Can it be moreto harm thanwefirstmightbelive?

22. Maguire, 1999 Navigation-related Structural Change in the Hippocampus of Taxi-drivers Background: The hippocampus is a part of the brain located in the medial temporal lobe and making up part of the limbic system (emotions etz). Damage to the hippocampus is believed to result in severe memory deficits (such as, for instance, in patient H.M.) and neuroscientists know that it is involved in spatial memory. It has also been shown that the hippocampus can increase in size when needed, e.g. animals and birds have a greater hippocampal volume during seasons when navigational skills are important.

23. Maguire, 1999 Navigation-related Structural Change in the Hippocampus of Taxi-drivers Aim: The study attempts to determine whether changes could be detected in the brains of humans who have extreme experience of spatial navigation.

24. Maguire, 1999 Navigation-related Structural Change in the Hippocampus of Taxi-drivers Participants: Quasi-experiment which included sixteen male licensed cab drivers who had passed ‘the knowledge’ (navigational test necessary to receive taxi-driver license). All were right handed, and were aged between 32 and 62, with a mean age of 44. They had all been licensed at least 18 months, although the range was from 18 months to 42 years, with a mean 14.3 years. The control group consisted of scans selected from a database. All of the control group were healthy right handed males aged between 32 and 62. None of the control group were taxi-drivers.

25. Maguire, 1999 Navigation-related Structural Change in the Hippocampus of Taxi-drivers Procedure: The brains of the taxi drivers were scanned using and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan, focusing on the size and structure of the hippocampus.

26. Maguire, 1999 Navigation-related Structural Change in the Hippocampus of Taxi-drivers Results: Using the MRI showed that the brains of cab drivers showed significantly increased size of the right and left posterior hippocampi, whereas the control group had relatively larger anterior hippocampi. No other differences were found between the brains of the two groups. The volume of the right posterior hippocampus showed a positive correlation with the length of time as a cab driver, the results were reversed when looking at the anterior hippocampus.

27. Maguire, 1999 Navigation-related Structural Change in the Hippocampus of Taxi-drivers Conclusions: The results show that experience can affect the volume of structures of the brain, and that in particular the hippocampus is affected by navigational experiences.

28. Maguire, 1999 Navigation-related Structural Change in the Hippocampus of Taxi-drivers Evaluation: MRI scans give a detailed view of the brain and safe and painless; The choice of cab drivers as a sample was good as they are a discrete group of people with specific knowledge and experience; However, this because this is a quasi-experiment (rather than a true experiment), bidirectional ambiguity or third factor influence is possible. The data collected was quantitative using precise equipment so there is unlikely to be any bias; Difficult to generalize to other groups with different types of experience