(Our happy hour fact to amaze your drinking buddies with.)Men and women may respond differently to danger, a brain scan study suggests.
A team from Poland used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess brain activity when volunteers were shown images. Men showed activity in areas which dealt with what action they should take to avoid or confront danger. But the study found more activity in the emotional centres of women's brains.
Brain activity was monitored while the volunteers were shown images of objects and images from ordinary life designed to evoke different emotional states.
While viewing negative images, women showed stronger and more extensive activity in the left thalamus. This is an area which relays sensory information to the pain and pleasure centres of the brain. Men showed more activity in an area of the brain called the left insula, which plays a key role in controlling involuntary functions.
Researcher Dr Andrzej Urbanik said: "This might signal that when confronted with dangerous situations, men are more likely than women to take action."
