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Hardwiring edge goes to guys� brains By Bill Varble Finally, science confirms what women always suspected: Men really do listen with half their brains. A new study found that men listen mostly with the left side of the brain. Women listen with both sides. Dr. Joseph T. Lurito, a radiologist at Indiana University School of Medicine, said this jibes with studies suggesting that women are better at listening to two conversations at once. It could be because they have more of their brain on the job, he said. Well, duh! says a friend who�s the mother of a 13-year-old boy. "With men, it�s just like in the books I�m reading about boys," she says. "Only one part of their brain lights up." Well, it�s all in how you look at it. Sure, you could conclude that women are better listeners. But maybe men just use their brains more efficiently. Did they think of that? Maybe a man�s brain is like a big, powerful, supercharged diesel breathing deeply as it effortlessly eats up the miles, while the brain of a woman is working like a tiny four-cylinder engine screaming along the freeway like zzzzzzzzeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! As University of Pennsylvania researcher Ruben Gur puts it, "Women run hotter and are more revved up." The other day I�m watching a football game on TV and my wife says something from the kitchen. As a member of the sex blessed with the more efficient auditory hardwiring, I�m taking in the game while allowing half my brain to pop in the clutch and let the wheels roll free. This highly complex skill enables me and my fellow guys to process complex patterns of athletic behavior ("These guys came to play!") while allowing half the cerebral cortex to act like a bowl of Brussels sprouts. We�re talking focus here. From the kitchen, where she�s on the phone, my wife seems to be asking me about dinner. ALARM! screams a sensor in the primitive recesses of my brain, ALARM! POSSIBLE RESPONSE REQUIRED. When the male brain is at rest, blood settles into the brain stem, or what scientists call the reptilian brain. In contrast, the female brain idles in something called the cingulate gyrus, which is related to emotional life, artistic expression and Oprah. "Sounds great," I say. Which brings her here, phone in hand. Somebody�s mother is sick, which isn�t great at all, and she wasn�t asking if I thought such-and-such would be good for dinner, but if we should have so-and-so over for dinner. "Sounds great," I say. She�s still talking as they break the huddle, and I realize with a pang that I don�t know if it�s second and seven or third and seven. My male focus, the capstone of millions of years of natural selection, has just gone south as a whole other cortical hemisphere slammed open, wrenching itself out of a Brussels-sprout-like state. There�s an interception, a return, a fumble, an appeal, replays, commercials about happy guys with SUVs, ATVs, beer. My wife is talking to me, talking to her friend, eyeing the game. Scientists say the female brain has superior frontal lobes, the seat of emotive skills, plus higher blood flow and more electrical activity. Neural imaging scans show there�s not as much going on inside the male brain during emotional processing � less activity and fewer centers involved. A part of the brain called the corpus callosum is bigger in women, allowing more "cross talk" between brain parts devoted to the emotive and the abstract. Well so what? Maybe we don�t need all those messy connections. The male brain excels at tracking objects moving in space � woolly mammoths, video game warriors, footballs. No extra processing required. Likewise in math or philosophy, where the highly focused male brain makes quantum leaps with less concrete data. This is good for creating symbolic texts and diagrams such as stock market charts, the nickel defense and the single-bullet theory. The game returns. I�m lost. "What�s happening?" I say. So-and-so is coming for dinner, my wife says. We need scallions and a bottle of pinot noir. Somebody�s mother is better. They were really worried about her. The big tight end caught a touchdown pass, but they went for two and missed, leaving them still needing a field goal to tie. She heads for the kitchen with the phone, still empathizing away, as I begin the plunge back to reptilian consciousness. The kickoff looms. Must focus. Women just don�t get focus. Reach reporter Bill Varble at 7706-4478 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.