Robust but independent sex differences in human brain function, structure, and behavior

Abstract

Abstract The neurobiological accompaniments of well-established sex differences in human behavior and disease remain unclear — in part due to a lack of large, diverse functional neuroimaging studies. We address this gap using over 700 h of fMRI data across seven tasks from 978 individuals with extensive structural and behavioral measures. We find that sex differences in task-activation are widespread (85% of cortex) and reproducible,  largely task-specific, of small to moderate effect size, and unaligned with brain volume differences. While machine learning can classify sex from brain activation, volume, or behavior, these data types provide orthogonal information. Brain-wide association studies reveal that links between brain activation and behavior are highly conserved between sexes. The few subtle sex differences in brain-behavior linkage that do exist are not preferentially localized to sex-biased behaviors. Our findings clarify the nature of sex differences in human brain function and their links with neuroanatomy and behavior, providing a useful foundation for future research.