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For instance, the idea that the band of fibers connecting the right and left brain is larger in women, supposedly supporting their more "holistic" thinking, is based on a single 1982 study of only 14 brains. Fifty other studies, taken together, found no such sex difference-not in adults, not in newborns. Other baseless claims: that women are hard-wired to read faces and tone of voice, to defuse conflict, and to form deep friendships; and that "girls' brains are wired for communication and boys' for aggression." Eliot's inescapable conclusion: there is "little solid evidence of sex differences in children's brains."

By 4 months of age, boys and girls differ in how much eye contact they make, and differences in sociability, emotional expressivity, and verbal ability-all of which depend on interactions with parents-grow throughout childhood.

false claim that boy brains and girl brains process sensory information and think differently

the sequence of development of the various brain regions

The world's largest study of brain development in children, conducted primarily by researchers at the National Institutes of Health

Girls reach the inflection point just before age 11 years; boys do not reach the inflection point until just before age 15 years.

Pink Brain, Blue Brain

In one, scientists dressed newborns in gender-neutral clothes and misled adults about their sex. The adults described the "boys" (actually girls) as angry or distressed more often than did adults who thought they were observing girls, and described the "girls" (actually boys) as happy and socially engaged more than adults who knew the babies were boys. Dozens of such disguised-gender experiments have shown that adults perceive baby boys and girls differently, seeing identical behavior through a gender-tinted lens. In another study, mothers estimated how steep a slope their 11-month-olds could crawl down. Moms of boys got it right to within one degree; moms of girls underestimated what their daughters could do by nine degrees, even though there are no differences in the motor skills of infant boys and girls. But that prejudice may cause parents to unconsciously limit their daughter's physical activity. How we perceive children-sociable or remote, physically bold or reticent-shapes how we treat them and therefore what experiences we give them. Since life leaves footprints on the very structure and function of the brain, these various experiences produce sex differences in adult behavior and brains-the result not of innate and inborn nature but of nurture.

Men and women's brains are distinctly different. While men have more neurons in the cerebral cortex, the brain's outer layer, women have more neuropil, which contains the processes allowing cell communication. Research showing these gender-specific differences was presented during the American Academy of Neurology 51st Annual Meeting April 17 -- 24, 1999, in Toronto.

The cerebral cortex is responsible for voluntary movements, perception of sensory input and of highly complex functions such as memory, learning, reasoning and language,"

Males possess more tightly packed and more numerous nerve cells (neurons) than females. Neurons send and receive electrical signals that influence many functions of the body and create thoughts and feelings. Females tend to have more neuropil, the fibular tissue that fills the space between nerve cell bodies and contains mainly nerve cell processes (synapses, dendrites and axons) that enable neurons to communicate with numerous other nerve cells."

The biggest change: he divided the classes by gender. Because males have less serotonin in their brains, which Gray was taught may cause them to fidget more, desks were removed from the boys' classrooms and they got short exercise periods throughout the day. Because females have more oxytocin, a hormone linked to bonding, girls were given a carpeted area where they sit and discuss their feelings. Because boys have higher levels of testosterone and are theoretically more competitive, they were given timed, multiple-choice tests. The girls were given multiple-choice tests, too, but got more time to complete them. Gray says the gender-based curriculum gave the school "the edge we needed." Tests scores are up. Discipline problems are down. This year the fifth and sixth grades at Foust are adopting the new curriculum, too.

The biggest change: he divided the classes by gender. Because males have less serotonin in their brains, which Gray was taught may cause them to fidget more, desks were removed from the boys' classrooms and they got short exercise periods throughout the day. Because females have more oxytocin, a hormone linked to bonding, girls were given a carpeted area where they sit and discuss their feelings. Because boys have higher levels of testosterone and are theoretically more competitive, they were given timed, multiple-choice tests. The girls were given multiple-choice tests, too, but got more time to complete them.

Studies show that girls, for instance, have more active frontal lobes, stronger connections between brain hemispheres and "language centers" that mature earlier than their male counterparts. Critics of gender-based schooling charge that curricula designed to exploit such differences reinforce the most narrow cultural stereotypes. But proponents say that unless neurological, hormonal and cognitive differences between boys and girls are incorporated in the classroom, boys are at a disadvantage.

Recent neuroimaging research has shown sex-related differences in the relationship between brain structure and cognitive function.

Recent neuroimaging research has shown sex-related differences in the relationship between brain structure and cognitive function. Anatomical studies have shown a greater reliance for cognitive function on white matter structure in adult females, and a greater reliance on gray matter structure in adult males. Functional neuroimaging studies have also shown a greater correlation between brain connectivity and cognitive function in females.

Significant sex-X-IQ interactions on fractional anisotropy (FA), a marker for white matter organization, were seen in the left frontal lobe, in fronto-parietal areas bilaterally, and in the arcuate fasciculus bilaterally, with girls showing positive correlations of FA with IQ, and boys showing a negative correlation.