Men and women think differently. (Because of this, men in
general, are better at certain things than women. Men also
like to do certain things more than women, and are therefore
drawn to trading, or whatever.)
Whether this is caused
x% by the differences in a given brain structure, and/or
how it is used is not certain to me.
The excerpts below are from a multiple-page article that is
quite informative.
-Stephen
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Among other things, these investigators found that parts of the frontal cortex, the seat of many higher cognitive functions, are bulkier in women than in men, as are parts of the limbic cortex, which is involved in emotional responses. In men, on the other hand, parts of the parietal cortex, which is involved in space perception, are bigger than in women, as is the amygdala, an almond-shaped structure that responds to emotionally arousing information--to anything that gets the heart pumping and the adrenaline flowing.
Another brain region now known to diverge in the sexes anatomically and in its response to stress is the hippocampus, a structure crucial for memory storage and for spatial mapping of the physical environment. Imaging consistently demonstrates that the hippocampus is larger in women than in men. These anatomical differences might well relate somehow to differences in the way males and females navigate. Many studies suggest that men are more likely to navigate by estimating distance in space and orientation ("dead reckoning"), whereas women are more likely to navigate by monitoring landmarks.
ptsd is not the only psychological disturbance that appears to play out differently in women and men. A PET study by Mirko Diksic and his colleagues at McGill University showed that serotonin production was a remarkable 52 percent higher on average in men than in women, which might help clarify why women are more prone to depression--a disorder commonly treated with drugs that boost the concentration of serotonin.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=his-brain-her-brain