Men vs women — what science really says about intelligence

The debate about who is smarter, men or women, has been going on for decades. Many people believe that men are more likely to succeed due to their intellectual abilities.

New research debunks the myth of gender-based intelligence differences, showing that brain efficiency, not size, matters most, reports Comments.ua.

Science ends the debate

The myth that men are smarter than women is an old one. Many attribute this to the fact that men are more likely to succeed in careers or other areas requiring intellectual abilities. However, this trend is actually related to cultural peculiarities, as women are more likely to sacrifice their ambitions for the sake of their families. Men, on the other hand, can advance in their careers without any problems, even when they have a wife and children.

While most women today can easily bypass maternity leave and continue working, in the past, society did not allow them to deviate from the "correct" family model. This led to the perception that men are smarter and more successful.

Scientists have found that, on average, men's brains are 12% heavier and 10% larger than women's brains. However, this pattern is unrelated to intellectual ability. Rather, it is related to body size, since most men are generally taller and larger than women. According to scientists, larger brain size does not affect intellectual ability.

The female brain has a higher density of nerve fibers, enabling faster transmission of signals. It also has more interhemispheric connections that facilitate analytical and intuitive perception of information. Conversely, men's brains have more connections within the hemispheres, which improves coordination between perception and execution. Thus, scientists have concluded that men's and women's minds are different, but that these differences do not impact mental ability.

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