Gender effect in human brain responses to bottom-up and top-down attention using the EEG 3D-Vector Field Tomography

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Neuroscience
• Psychology

Background:

• Gender differences in cognitive functions, particularly attention, are increasingly studied.
• Understanding brain activity variations related to gender is crucial for neuroscience.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate gender-specific effects on visual attention allocation using electroencephalography (EEG).
• To compare brain activity patterns between males and females during visual pop-out and visual search tasks.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a visual-attention task with bottom-up (pop-out) and top-down (search) conditions.
• Recorded high-density EEG (256 channels) and analyzed behavioral data, P300 event-related potentials, and brain source localization (3D-VFT).
• Included 20 participants (10 female, 10 male) with 60 trials per condition.

Main Results:

• No significant gender differences in behavioral performance (accuracy, reaction time) were observed between conditions.
• Females exhibited significantly higher P300 amplitudes than males in the visual search condition (p < 7 × 10⁻³).
• Brain source localization indicated distinct lateralization: females showed maximum activation in left hemisphere regions, while males showed it in right hemisphere regions.

Conclusions:

• Visual attention relies on gender-linked brain lateralization, particularly evident in more demanding tasks.
• These findings have implications for understanding gender differences in developmental disorders affecting attention.