Infographic: Searching for the Neural Basis of Gender

Brain studies have yielded a mixed picture of the neural similarities and differences between people of different genders.

Written byShawna Williams

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S ince the 1990s, researchers have investigated various features of the brains of transgender people. The results have yielded a mixed picture of the neural mechanisms that may underlie what’s known as gender dysphoria.

Some studies, for example, have identified aspects of transgender brains that more closely match those of people of the same gender or fall in between typical cisgender women and men, supporting the idea that there is a mismatch between the development of gender in the brain and the body ?. But others have found features of the brains of transgender individuals that are more similar to those of people who share their sex assigned at birth, or differ from cisgender people of both sexes ?.

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Meet the Author

Shawna Williams
Shawna was an editor at The Scientist from 2017 through 2022. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Colorado College and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Previously, she worked as a freelance editor and writer, and in the communications offices of several academic research institutions. As news director, Shawna assigned and edited news, opinion, and in-depth feature articles for the website on all aspects of the life sciences. She is based in central Washington State, and is a member of the Northwest Science Writers Association and the National Association of Science Writers.
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