Gender Differences and the BrainBrandon MooreLTCY 19921 November 2013As we all know, the brain is one of the most amazing mysteries in the world; there is a lot to discover. This topic strikes me because for much of my life I have always wanted to know how the brain is different between men and women. From the beginning of life, boys and girls are already different. The common topic of discussion is which kind of brain matures fastest. People often hear that girls mature much faster than boys. In reality this is not true; genders don't really play a role in the maturation process, because it all depends on what you are exposed to in life. Although research has shown that girls have many more verbal skills during the preschool stages, these decline dramatically around age seven. Girls have also been shown to perform better than boys in reading and writing throughout high school. Most of these studies were conducted in coeducational schools. Studies have shown that single-gender schools are more beneficial for both genders. The statistics were essentially the same for these types of schools. I think your brain matures faster based on the things you're exposed to. When these claim that the research was conducted globally, the statistics vary, with some siding with girls and others in favor of boys. So this shows that there is a real gender difference, but there is no demonstrated gender maturation rate in the brain. Self-esteem is another big gender difference. It connects to topics such as emotions, coping, depression, and behavior. Throughout adolescence, boys have demonstrated higher self-esteem than girls. This means that kids are less likely to get depressed about something. Research conducted by Reiko Miyamoto and Yoshiaki Kiku...... half of article......, Szatkowskal, l., & Baron, J. (2012). Sex, lies, and gender differences in MRI in the neural basis of deception. Plos ONE, 7(8), 1-11. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0043076Farace, E., & Alves, W. M. (2000). Women fare worse: a meta-analysis of gender differences in outcome of traumatic brain injury. Journal of Neurosurgery, 93(4), 539-545.Xu, J., Kobayashi, S., Yamaguchi, S., Iijima, K. I., Okada, K., & Yamashita, K. (2000). Effects of gender on age-related changes in brain structure. American Journal of Neuroradiology, 21(1), 112-118. Schulte-Rüther, M., Markowitsch, H. J., Shah, N. J., Fink, G. R., & Piefke, M. (2008). Gender differences in brain networks supporting empathy. Neuroimage, 42(1), 393-403.Eccles, J. S., & Harold, R. D. (1991). Gender differences in sports involvement: application of Eccles' expectancy-value model. Journal of psychology applied to sport, 3(1), 7-35.