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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Behav. Neurosci.
Sec. Learning and Memory
Volume 18 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2024.1457663
This article is part of the Research Topic The Neuroscience Underlying Cognition: New Perspectives on an Old Question View all articles

Understanding gender differences in reasoning and specific paradigm using meta-analysis of neuroimaging

Provisionally accepted
Chen Lina Chen Lina 1,2Zheng Zeqing Zheng Zeqing 3*Liang Jin Liang Jin 4,5Lin Yuerui Lin Yuerui 1Miao Qingqing Miao Qingqing 6*
  • 1 Capital Normal University, Beijing, China
  • 2 Hengshui University, Hengshui, Hebei Province, China
  • 3 State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
  • 4 China Institute of Marine Technology and Economy, Beijing, China
  • 5 National Key Laboratory of Human Factors Engineering, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
  • 6 College of Foreign Languages and Literature, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Reasoning is a fundamental cognitive process that allows individuals to make inferences, decisions, and solve problems. Understanding the neural mechanisms of reasoning and the gender differences in these mechanisms is crucial for comprehending the neural foundations of reasoning and promoting gender equality in cognitive processing. This study conducted an Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) meta-analysis of 275 studies, revealing that reasoning involves multiple brain regions, including the parts of frontal, parietal, occipital, temporal lobes, limbic system, and subcortical areas. These findings indicate that reasoning is a complex cognitive process requiring the coordinated activity of multiple brain regions.Additionally, 25 studies focusing on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) paradigm confirmed the importance of these regions in reasoning processes. The gender-specific activation results indicate that males and females utilize different neural networks during reasoning and WCST tasks. While significant differences exist in specific regions, the overall activation patterns do not show marked gender differences. Notably, females exhibit greater activation in the limbic system compared to males, suggesting that emotional states may play a more prominent role for females when engaging in reasoning tasks.

    Keywords: reasoning, gender differences, Meta-analysis, ALE, WCST

    Received: 01 Jul 2024; Accepted: 11 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Lina, Zeqing, Jin, Yuerui and Qingqing. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Zheng Zeqing, State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, Beijing Municipality, China
    Miao Qingqing, College of Foreign Languages and Literature, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, 730070, Gansu Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.