Scientists found statistical equality between boys ‘and girls’ brains when it comes to learning math. Jessica Cantlon, author of the study and professor of developmental neuroscience(神经科学) at Carnegie Mellon University, told NPR that when it comes to learning math, boys and girls are “indistinguishable.”
Boys and girls experience learning math in the same way, the new study found, debunking the age-old thought that-males are superior to females in the subject.
The study published Friday in the journal Science of Learning discovered that young boys and girls use the same networks in the brain to solve math problems. “While some have thought that boys are biologically likely to be better in math, there was little evidence to support those claims, “researchers said in the study. Some earlier studies have shown gender differences, but “it is impossible to separate intrinsic(本质的), biological differences from sociocultural influences.”
For the study published Friday, researchers analyzed 104 kids between 3 and 10years old while they performed some tests connected with mental processes of understanding and watched videos of math lessons in an MRI scanner. In a first for such a study, scientists used neuroimaging(神经成像) to capture images of kids ‘brains to evaluate the differences between males and females.
Testing revealed that girls’ and boys’ brains function similarly during mathematical processing. “Additionally, there was no evidence of gender differences in neural responses to mathematics content, neural responses during educational video viewing, or rates of neural development for mathematical processing in early childhood.”
Furthermore, scientists “found statistical equality between boys and girls throughout the brain. “This led the researchers to conclude that “gender differences in the field of science in adults don’t develop from intrinsic differences in children’s brains but likely from a complex environmental origin.”
【小题1】What does the underlined word “debunking “mean in paragraph 2?| A．spreading. | B．exposing. |
| C．reflecting. | D．confirming. |
| A．The gender differences are likely influenced by socio-culture. |
| B．Boys and girls solve math problems in exactly the same way. |
| C．Evidence was found that boys are biologically better in math. |
| D．Earlier studies have enough evidence to prove the gender differences. |
| A．Girls’ and boys’ brains are different in Math. |
| B．The kids like watching videos of math lessons. |
| C．The MRI scanner is helpful to evaluate the differences. |
| D．There are no gender differences in learning Math. |
| A．Boys and Girls Are Equal in Getting Education |
| B．Boys and Girls Brains Are Equal in Math |
| C．Males Are Superior to Females in Math |
| D．Adults Are Superior to Kids in Math |
