You may know how men are fond of cars, but their obsession might come from a deeper reason than you think. Study reveals that men with 'thicker cortex know cars better than faces.
The brain is composed of three parts-forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain. Cerebrum, also known as cortex, is the biggest area of the brain. It is vital for higher brain activities and cognitive roles such as action, perception, language and memory. Though there are several studies about the function of the cortex, a study last year was published in Science Daily that reveals the connection between the cortex and a person's IQ, a new discovery found that it can also be associated with a person's capacity to recognize things.
Isabel Gauthier, a psychology professor at Vanderbilt University, and lead author of the study stated, "It is the first time we have found a direct relationship between brain structure and visual expertise. It shows more clearly than ever that this part of the brain is relevant to both face and object recognition abilities."
The experiment was tested to 27 male participants. They were asked to name the things that will be shown to them, either living or non-living. The participants' skills on determining faces were also tried.
Advanced brain-mapping tools were used by the experts to learn where the fusiform face area (FFA) is located and quantify the cortical thickness. Research shows that men with thicker FFA cortex score higher in recognizing non-living objects than living things. Participants with thinner FFA cortex, on the other hand identify living things better than non-living objects.
Gauthier, after seeing the results of the study concluded, "It was really a surprise to find that the effects are in opposite directions for faces and non-living objects. One possibility that we are exploring is that we acquire expertise for faces much earlier than we learn about cars, and brain development is quite different earlier versus later in life."
