Settling differences

Boys are from hippocampus

By Dia L Boyle

Thursday, 09 February 2006

Did we need science to tell us girls and boys are different? Judging by a new book on the significance of gender for the upbringing and education of children, yes. Why Gender Matters: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know about the Emerging Science of Sex Differences By Leonard Sax, MD, PhD 320 pp | Doubleday | 2005 | ISBN 038551073X | $24.95 rrp

Anyone who has watched normal children at play will have noticed this: when a boy comes across a long smooth stick he very likely will raise it like a rifle, sight along it, and pretend to shoot at something. When a girl comes across the same stick she is far more likely to use it as a walking stick, draw with it in the dirt, or point, schoolteacher-fashion, at an imaginary blackboard. Less obvious to the casual observer of this boy and girl is the fact that she typically has more sensitive hearing than he, his vision can detect speed and direction of motion better than hers, and she is better at seeing color and texture. When lunchtime nears, he will use the part of his brain called the hippocampus, while she will use the part of her brain called the cerebral cortex, as they find their respective ways home.

Full story at MercatorNet