Research Shows Men & Women Do See Things Differently

We all know men and women think differently. Who's judgement is normally better - well, that's up for debate. Nonetheless, recent research suggests that opposite genders really do see things differently - particularly when it comes to colors.  In this month's issue of Headline Discoveries, Joe Giacobello reported that women are better at distinguishing among subtle color differences, while men have greater sensitivity to fine detail and rapidly moving, distant objects.

So let's get down right brainy. Scientists say that there are high concentrations of androgen - the male sex hormone receptors - in the visual cortex of the brain, which is responsible for processing images and explains their sensitivity. 

When it comes to knowing colors, women are who you want to talk to. Isreal Abramov and his research team at CUNY's Brooklyn College conducted a series of visual tests on men and women at both the high school and college level. Among other things, Abramov and his team found that women detected tiny differences between yellows that looked the same to men.

So why do men and women see differently. Can it really all be attributed to hormones in the brain? Not exactly. As stated in Headline Discoveries, a possible, but highly speculative explanation for why the sexes see different is for evolutionary advantages. Back in the hunter-gatherer societies, the males needed to see predators or prey in the distance while women had to detect subtle color differences while scouring for edible plants. An interesting perspective id we do say so ourselves.

To read the full article and to check out follow up questions that can be used for classroom discussion, click here.