Abstract:
The contribution of brain regions to visuospatial abilities according to sex differences and gender identity is inconsistently described. One potential explaining factor may be the different tasks employed requiring a variable load of working memory and other cognitive resources. Here we asked to 20 cis and 20 transgender participants to undergo functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging during performance of a judgement line of orientation test that was adapted to explore the basic visuospatial processing while minimizing the working memory load. We show that V1 activation may be viewed as a brain area with enhanced activation in males, regardless of participants\' gender identity. On its turn, gender identity exclusively influences the visuospatial processing of extrastriate visual areas (V5) in women with gender dysphoria. They showed enhanced V5 activation and an increased functional connectivity between V5 and V1. Overall our neuroimaging results suggest that the basic visuospatial abilities are associated with different activations pattern of cortical visual areas depending on the sex assigned at birth and gender identity.
摘要:
根据性别差异和性别认同,大脑区域对视觉空间能力的贡献被不一致地描述。一个潜在的解释因素可能是所采用的不同任务,需要可变负载的工作记忆和其他认知资源。在这里,我们要求20位顺式和20位跨性别参与者在进行方向判断线测试期间进行功能磁共振成像,该测试适合探索基本的视觉空间处理,同时最大程度地减少工作记忆负荷。我们表明,V1激活可能被视为男性激活增强的大脑区域,无论参与者的性别认同。轮到它了,性别认同仅影响患有性别烦躁不安的女性的话语外视觉区域(V5)的视觉空间处理。他们显示出增强的V5激活和V5和V1之间的功能连接增加。总体而言,我们的神经影像学结果表明,基本的视觉空间能力与皮质视觉区域的不同激活模式有关,具体取决于出生时分配的性别和性别认同。