Sex differences in the human brain related to visual motion perception.

Publisher: BioMed Central Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 101548963 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2042-6410 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 20426410 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Biol Sex Differ Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: London : BioMed Central, 2010-

Motion Perception*/physiology ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Sex Characteristics* ; Brain*/physiology ; Brain*/diagnostic imaging; Humans ; Female ; Male ; Adult ; Young Adult ; Photic Stimulation

Background: Previous studies have found that the temporal duration required for males to perceive visual motion direction is significantly shorter than that for females. However, the neural correlates of such shortened duration perception remain yet unclear. Given that motion perception is primarily associated with the neural activity of the middle temporal visual complex (MT+), we here test the novel hypothesis that the neural mechanism of these behavioral sex differences is mainly related to the MT+ region.
Methods: We utilized ultra-high field (UHF) MRI to investigate sex differences in the MT+ brain region. A total of 95 subjects (48 females) participated in two separate studies. Cohort 1, consisting of 33 subjects (16 females), completed task-fMRI (drafting grating stimuli) experiment. Cohort 2, comprising 62 subjects (32 females), engaged in a psychophysical experiment measuring motion perception along different temporal thresholds as well as conducting structural and functional MRI scanning of MT+.
Results: Our findings show pronounced sex differences in major brain parameters within the left MT+ (but not the right MT+, i.e., laterality). In particular, males demonstrate (i) larger gray matter volume (GMV) and higher brain's spontaneous activity at the fastest infra-slow frequency band in the left MT+; and (ii) stronger functional connectivity between the left MT+ and the left centromedial amygdala (CM). Meanwhile, both female and male participants exhibited comparable correlations between motion perception ability and the multimodal imaging indexes of the MT+ region, i.e., larger GMV, higher brain's spontaneous activity, and faster motion discrimination.
Conclusions: Our findings reveal sex differences of imaging indicators of structure and function in the MT+ region, which also relate to the temporal threshold of motion discrimination. Overall, these results show how behavioral sex differences in visual motion perception are generated, and advocate considering sex as a crucial biological variable in both human brain and behavioral research.
Competing Interests: Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate All procedures were approved by the Ethics Review Committee of Zhejiang University, and conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration. Consent for publication Not applicable. Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests.
(© 2024. The Author(s).)

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2024SSYS0019 the key R&D program of zhejiang; 2022C03096 the key R&D program of zhejiang; 82272112 the national natural science foundation of china grants; 62076248 the national natural science foundation of china grants; 52293424 the national natural science foundation of china grants; LR23E070001 zhejiang proveincial natural science foundation of china

Keywords: Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations; Gray matter volume; Human MT complex; Motion perception; Sex differences
Local Abstract: [plain-language-summary] There are sex differences in visuospatial abilities between males and females, including the visual perception of motion information. However, the neural mechanism of these sex differences in motion perception remains yet unclear. To explore this question, we employed the joint task probing motion perception and ultra-high field (UHF) MRI. We found that the motion discrimination was faster in males compared to females. The sex differences were also prominent in major brain parameters in the MT+ region (the function brain regions of motion perception). Males demonstrate (i) larger gray matter volume (GMV) and higher brain’s spontaneous activity in the left MT+ (but not right MT+, i.e., laterality); (ii) stronger functional connectivity between the left MT+ and the left centromedial amygdala (CM). Additionally, we observed that female and male participants exhibited comparable correlations between motion perception ability and the multimodal imaging indexes in the MT+ region, i.e., the larger GMV, the higher brain’s spontaneous activity, and the faster motion discrimination. These results suggest that the sex differences in the structure and function of the MT+ region are the neural mechanism underlying the behavioral-level sex differences in motion perception. We demonstrate sex differences in the healthy human MT+ of the brain, possibly leading to sex differences in visual perception. This strongly support the consideration of sex as a crucial biological variable in both human brain and behavioral research.

Date Created: 20241112 Date Completed: 20241112 Latest Revision: 20241116

20241116

PMC11552312

10.1186/s13293-024-00668-2

39529200