The DOI matches its Crossref record; 125 of the 125 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Sex Differences in the Adult Human Brain: Evidence from 5216 UK Biobank Participants
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
Sex differences in the human brain are of interest for many reasons: for example, there are sex differences in the observed prevalence of psychiatric disorders and in some psychological traits that brain differences might help to explain. We report the largest single-sample study of structural and functional sex differences in the human brain (2750 female, 2466 male participants; mean age 61.7 years, range 44-77 years). Males had higher raw volumes, raw surface areas, and white matter fractional anisotropy; females had higher raw cortical thickness and higher white matter tract complexity. There was considerable distributional overlap between the sexes. Subregional differences were not fully attributable to differences in total volume, total surface area, mean cortical thickness, or height. There was generally greater male variance across the raw structural measures. Functional connectome organization showed stronger connectivity for males in unimodal sensorimotor cortices, and stronger connectivity for females in the default mode network. This large-scale study provides a foundation for attempts to understand the causes and consequences of sex differences in adult brain structure and function.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“Sex-related differences in brain structure and function have been consistently reported across large-scale neuroimaging studies, involving both global and regional measures such as total brain volume, cortical thickness, white matter microstructure, and functional connectivity [29,30,31,32].”
From Benchmarking Multimodal Deep Fusion Strategies for Heterogeneous Neuroimaging and Cognitive Data Using a Controlled Sex Classification Task (2026) · cites this paper as [31]
The cited source says what the claim attributes to it.
In the citing paper
“As sex differences exist in brain morphology,33”
From Sex Differences in the Association of Global Amyloid and Regional Tau Deposition Measured by Positron Emission Tomography in Clinically Normal Older Adults (2019) · cites this paper as [33]
The check wasn’t confident either way, so it gives no verdict — never disputed.
In the citing paper
“Memory impairment is similarly found among patients with Cushing disease and Cushing syndrome (694).”
From Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia—Current Insights in Pathophysiology, Diagnostics, and Management (2022) · cites this paper as [694]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Controlling the False Discovery Rate: A Practical and Powerful Approach to Multiple Testing
Benjamini, Y., & Hochberg, Y. (1995) · Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B: Statistical Methodology · doi:10.1111/j.2517-6161.1995.tb02031.x · Cited by 109,482
Desikan, R. S., Ségonne, F., Fischl, B., Quinn, B. T., Dickerson, B. C., Blacker, D., Buckner, R. L., Dale, A. M., Maguire, R. P., Hyman, B. T., et al. (2006) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.01.021 · Cited by 13,324 · cited 1×
“2007), according to the Desikan– Killiany atlas (Desikan et al. 2006).”
MethodJenkinson, M., Bannister, P., Brady, M., & Smith, S. (2002) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1006/nimg.2002.1132 · Cited by 11,888 · cited 1×
“The following preprocessing procedures were applied: motion correction using MCFLIRT (Jenkinson et al. 2002), grand-mean intensity normalization using a single multiplicative factor, high-pass temporal filtering with a Gaussian-weighted least-squares straight line fitting (sigma was set as 50.”
MethodThe descent of man and selection in relation to sex
チャールス, ダ., & 茂穂, 田. (1907) · Tokyo Jinrui Gakkai zasshi · doi:10.1537/ase1887.22.495 · Cited by 10,909
Fast robust automated brain extraction
Smith, S. M. (2002) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.10062 · Cited by 10,496
Power failure: why small sample size undermines the reliability of neuroscience
Button, K. S., Ioannidis, J. P. A., Mokrysz, C., Nosek, B. A., Flint, J., Robinson, E. S. J., & Munafò, M. R. (2013) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn3475 · Cited by 7,641 · cited 2×
“Given the surfeit of small-n studies in neuroscience (Button et al. 2013; Nord et al. 2017), it is of great importance to test hypotheses in large, well-powered samples, especially given that many neural sex differences are modest in size (Joel et al.”
BackgroundZhang, Y., Brady, M., & Smith, S. M. (2001) · IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging · doi:10.1109/42.906424 · Cited by 7,628 · cited 1×
“2001, 2007a, 2007b) and FAST (Zhang et al. 2001), yielding cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), grey and white matter volumes.”
BackgroundHow do you feel — now? The anterior insula and human awareness
(Bud) Craig, A. D. (2009) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn2555 · Cited by 6,657
Measuring the thickness of the human cerebral cortex from magnetic resonance images
Fischl, B. R., & Dale, A. M. (2000) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.200033797 · Cited by 5,995
A New Initiative on Precision Medicine
Collins, F. S., & Varmus, H. (2015) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmp1500523 · Cited by 5,202
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Fine, 2017, Testosterone Rex: unmaking the myths of our gendered minds
- Maeda, 2013, Ed Psychol Rev, 69
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 301–400 of 854
Prospective Study Examining the Effects of Extreme Drinking on Brain Structure in Emerging Adults
Hua, J. P. Y., Sher, K. J., Boness, C. L., Trela, C. J., McDowell, Y. E., Merrill, A. M., Piasecki, T. M., & Kerns, J. G. (2020) · Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental Research · doi:10.1111/acer.14446 · Cited by 20
“…(ß5[genderi]) and intrancranial volume (ß6[intracranial volumei]) were also included as fixed effects as previous research has found these variables to be associated with brain morphometry (Barnes et al., 2010; Hogstrom et al., 2013; Im et al., 2008; Luders et al., 2004; Ritchie et al., 2018).”
BackgroundHopkins, W. D., Li, X., Roberts, N., Mulholland, M. M., Sherwood, C. C., Edler, M. K., Raghanti, M. A., & Schapiro, S. J. (2023) · Neurobiology of Aging · doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2023.02.008 · Cited by 14
Liu, C., Jing, J., Jiang, J., Wen, W. X., Zhu, W., Li, Z., Pan, Y., Cai, X., Liu, H., Zhou, Y., et al. (2024) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120847 · Cited by 17
“This is likely due to gender differences in cerebral white matter microstructure, since males generally have a higher white matter integrity (Ritchie et al., 2018).”
BackgroundrsfMRI-based brain entropy is negatively correlated with gray matter volume and surface area
Mauro, G. D., & Wang, Z. (2025) · Brain Structure and Function · doi:10.1007/s00429-025-02897-6 · Cited by 13
“According to the radial unit hypothesis, cortical SA is driven by the number of columns, while CT is driven by the number of cells within a column (22).”
Implications of ideological bias in social psychology on clinical practice.
Silander, N. C., Geczy, B., Marks, O., & Mather, R. D. (2020) · Clinical Psychology Science and Practice · doi:10.1111/cpsp.12312 · Cited by 17
“Some of the concepts, such as symbolic racism, implicit bias, and the Implicit Association Test, microaggressions, authoritarianism, the extent of social constructivism of gender/sexuality, and “toxic masculinity” have been largely accepted in psychology despite significant and under-acknowledged criticisms pertaining…”
BackgroundBegdache, L., & Patrissy, C. (2021) · Journal of Personalized Medicine · doi:10.3390/jpm11050435 · Cited by 13
Sex Chromosome Dosage Effects on White Matter Structure in the Human Brain
Warling, A., Yavi, M., CLASEN, L. S., Blumenthal, J. D., Lalonde, F. M., Raznahan, A., & Liu, S. (2021) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhab162 · Cited by 13
“…identified sex-based differences in both white and gray matter structures in euploidic populations (Kanaan et al. 2012; Ruigrok et al. 2014; Ritchie et al. 2018), and separately demonstrated alterations in both white and gray matter structures with variation in SCD (Bryant et al. 2011,…”
Manjaree, H. M. S., & Perera, D. (2021) · International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science · doi:10.47772/ijriss.2021.5743 · Cited by 14
Li, T., Hoogman, M., Mota, N. R., Buitelaar, J. K., The ENIGMA‐ASD working group, Vásquez, A. A., Franke, B., & van Rooij, D. (2021) · Autism Research · doi:10.1002/aur.2627 · Cited by 12
“Previous studies have reported sex differences in subcortical brain volumes (Ritchie et al., 2018), and different underlying subcortical organizations were reported in females from the ENIGMA-ADHD working group (Li et al., 2021).”
Díez‐Cirarda, M., Gabilondo, I., Ibarretxe‐Bilbao, N., Gómez‐Esteban, J. C., Kim, J., Lucas‐Jiménez, O., Pino, R. D., Peña, J., Ojeda, N., Mihaescu, A. S., et al. (2021) · npj Parkinson s Disease · doi:10.1038/s41531-021-00257-9 · Cited by 11
Usui, K., Yoshimura, T., Tang, M., & Sugimori, H. (2023) · Applied Sciences · doi:10.3390/app13031753 · Cited by 13
Sex differences in limbic network and risk‐taking propensity in healthy individuals
Bajaj, S., & Killgore, W. D. S. (2019) · Journal of Neuroscience Research · doi:10.1002/jnr.24504 · Cited by 13
“In a recent study on sex differences in a sample of over 5,000 participants, published by Ritchie and colleagues, larger volume and SA s were reported for males compared to females (Ritchie et al., 2018).”
BackgroundUncovering sex/gender differences of arithmetic in the human brain: Insights from fMRI studies
Chang, T., Chen, N.-F., & Fan, Y. (2022) · Brain and Behavior · doi:10.1002/brb3.2775 · Cited by 16
Chinn, C. A., Ren, H., Morival, J. L. P., Nie, Q. H., Wood, M. A., & Downing, T. L. (2021) · Neurobiology of Aging · doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2021.08.006 · Cited by 14
Confounds in neuroimaging: A clear case of sex as a confound in brain-based prediction
Weber, K. A., II, Teplin, Z., Wager, T. D., Law, C. S. W., Prabhakar, N., Ashar, Y. K., Gilam, G., Banerjee, S., Delp, S. L., Glover, G. H., et al. (2022) · Frontiers in Neurology · doi:10.3389/fneur.2022.960760 · Cited by 11
Giff, A. E., Noren, G. C., Magnotti, J. F., Lopes, A. C., Batistuzzo, M. C., Hoexter, M. Q., Greenberg, B. D., Marsland, R., Miguel, E. C., Rasmussen, S. A., et al. (2023) · Psychiatry Research Neuroimaging · doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2023.111595 · Cited by 12
Hu, M., Lou, Y., Zhu, C., Chen, J., Liu, S., Liang, Y., Liu, S., & Tang, Y. (2023) · Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging · doi:10.1002/jmri.28974 · Cited by 12
“It is worth noting that in many large-sample studies, 11,23,29 the number of ROIs with gender differences after correction is far smaller than the number without such differences.”
BackgroundAndrushko, J. W., Rinat, S., Kirby, E. D., Dahlby, J. S., Ekstrand, C., & Boyd, L. A. (2023) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-023-44871-4 · Cited by 15
Dumitru, M. L. (2023) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhad396 · Cited by 12
Modeling brain sex in the limbic system as phenotype for female-prevalent mental disorders
Bon, G. M., Kraft, D., Comasco, E., Derntl, B., & Kaufmann, T. (2024) · Biology of Sex Differences · doi:10.1186/s13293-024-00615-1 · Cited by 12
Sex-related variability of white matter tracts in the whole HCP cohort
Herlin, B., Uszynski, I., Chauvel, M., Dupont, S., & Poupon, C. (2024) · Brain Structure and Function · doi:10.1007/s00429-024-02833-0 · Cited by 14
“Our results are consistent with the meta-analysis by Ruigrok et al. (Ruigrok et al. 2014) who found a relative difference of 12% between men and women and with a more recent study (Ritchie et al. 2018), including included 5216 participants from the UK Biobank, that found a relative difference in total brain volume of…”
BackgroundResultInfluentialThrough the lens of causal inference: Decisions and pitfalls of covariate selection
Chen, G., Cai, Z., & Taylor, P. A. (2024) · Aperture Neuro · doi:10.52294/001c.124817 · Cited by 12
Longitudinal Sex-at-Birth and Age Analyses of Cortical Structure in the ABCD Study
Marshall, A. T., Adise, S., Kan, E., & Sowell, E. R. (2025) · Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1091-24.2025 · Cited by 13
Höller, Y., Tadžić, A., Thomschewski, A. C., Höller, P., Leis, S., Tomasi, S. O., Hofer, C. D., Bathke, A. C., Nardone, R., & Trinka, E. (2017) · Frontiers in Neurology · doi:10.3389/fneur.2017.00662 · Cited by 12
Are there sex differences in the development of prefrontal function during early childhood?
Shinohara, I., & Moriguchi, Y. (2020) · Developmental Psychobiology · doi:10.1002/dev.22039 · Cited by 14
Karalija, N., Papenberg, G., Wåhlin, A., Johansson, J. J., Andersson, M., Axelsson, J., Riklund, K., Lindenberger, U., Nyberg, L. H., & Bäckman, L. (2021) · Neurobiology of Aging · doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2021.04.022 · Cited by 14
Sangha, O., Ma, D., Popuri, K., Stocks, J. K., Wang, L., & Beg, M. F. (2021) · Neurobiology of Aging · doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2021.05.018 · Cited by 12
Tsuchida, A., Laurent, A., Crivello, F., Petit, L., Pepe, A., Beguedou, N., Debette, S., Tzourio, C., & Mazoyer, B. M. (2021) · Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnsys.2021.692152 · Cited by 15
Zhao, B., Li, T., Li, Y., Fan, Z., Xiong, D., Wang, X., Gao, M., Smith, S. M., & Hongtu Zhu, B. (2023) · Imaging Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/imag_a_00015 · Cited by 12
“However, the specific locations and patterns of these identified differences can vary across studies ( Ritchie et al., 2018; Scheinost et al., 2015).”
BackgroundThe impact of aging on the subregions of the fusiform gyrus in healthy older adults
Shah, M., Kurth, F., & Eileen Luders, A. (2020) · Journal of Neuroscience Research · doi:10.1002/jnr.24586 · Cited by 12
“While some have observed a lager fusiform gyrus and a steeper trajectory of age-related atrophy in men compared to women (Lotze et al., 2019; Raz et al., 2004; Xu et al., 2000), others point to a larger fusiform gyrus in women than in men (Ritchie et al., 2018).”
ResultWong, W. I., & VanderLaan, D. P. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108561716.009 · Cited by 12
Raikes, A. C., Dyke, J. P., Nerattini, M., Boneu, C., Ajila, T., Fauci, F., Battista, M., Pahlajani, S. S., Williams, S., Brinton, R. D., et al. (2025) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-025-24136-y · Cited by 12
Lee, S., Bijsterbosch, J. D., Alfaro‐Almagro, F., Elliott, L. T., McCarthy, P., Taschler, B., Sala‐Llonch, R., Beckmann, C. F., Duff, E. P., Smith, S. M., et al. (2022) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119779 · Cited by 13
“, 2013), between-network FC (Allen et al., 2011; Filippi et al., 2013; Ritchie et al., 2018; Satterthwaite et al., 2015), and fALFF (Biswal et al.”
BackgroundLewandowska, M., Tołpa, K., Rogala, J., Piotrowski, T., & Dreszer, J. (2023) · Behavioral and Brain Functions · doi:10.1186/s12993-023-00218-7 · Cited by 12
“At rest women display stronger functional connections within the DMN [5, 10, 20, 77] and spent more time in this network compared to men [19, 90] while men have more interactions in the somatomotor network (SMN) [5, 77] and a greater occurrence rate of microstate corresponding to the SMN [54].”
A multi-site study on sex differences in cortical thickness in non-demented Parkinson’s disease
Oltra, J., Segura, B., Strafella, A. P., van Eimeren, T., Ibarretxe‐Bilbao, N., Díez‐Cirarda, M., Eggers, C., Lucas‐Jiménez, O., Monté, G. C., Ojeda, N., et al. (2024) · npj Parkinson s Disease · doi:10.1038/s41531-024-00686-2 · Cited by 11
“Moreover, healthy population-based studies did not report lateralized sex differences in gray matter measures either 11,19 .”
Chen, J., Bayanagari, V. L., Chung, S., Wang, Y., & Lui, Y. W. (2024) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-024-60340-y · Cited by 11
Demnitz, N., Madsen, K. S., Johnsen, L. K., Kjær, M., Boraxbekk, C., & Siebner, H. R. (2021) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118405 · Cited by 11
Saland, S. K., Wilczak, K., Voss, E. Z., Lam, T. T., & Kabbaj, M. (2022) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-022-05937-x · Cited by 11
Chiasson, C., Moorman, J., Romano, E., & Smith, A. (2022) · American Journal of Men s Health · doi:10.1177/15579883221096566 · Cited by 12
“Innate differences in brain structure and function exist between males and females, for example, in males compared to females, greater cortical thickness is observed in the orbitofrontal cortex and the insula, regions important for decision-making and emotion (Ritchie et al., 2018).”
BackgroundNeurofeminism: Feminist critiques of research on sex/gender differences in the neurosciences
Friedrichs, K., & Kellmeyer, P. (2022) · European Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1111/ejn.15834 · Cited by 13
Zhang, R., Wiers, C. E., Manza, P., Tomasi, D., Shokri-Kojori, E., Kerich, M., Almira, E., Schwandt, M., Diazgranados, N., Momenan, R., et al. (2022) · Brain Communications · doi:10.1093/braincomms/fcac127 · Cited by 11
Amyloid-β accumulation in relation to functional connectivity in aging: A longitudinal study
Liu, G., Shen, C., & Qiu, A. (2023) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120146 · Cited by 14
Pharaoh Tutankhamun: a novel 3D digital facial approximation
Moraes, C. A. D. C., Habicht, M. E., Galassi, F. M., Varotto, E., & Beaini, T. L. (2023) · Italian Journal of Anatomy and Embryology · doi:10.36253/ijae-14514 · Cited by 13
Zhang, R., Rolls, E. T., Cheng, W., & Feng, J. (2023) · Brain Structure and Function · doi:10.1007/s00429-023-02720-0 · Cited by 12
“Males were found to have higher FCs related to the sensorimotor network, while females had higher FCs related to the default mode network (Ritchie et al. 2018).”
BackgroundMethodIndividual variation in longitudinal postnatal development of the primate brain
Ball, G., & Seal, M. (2018) · Brain Structure and Function · doi:10.1007/s00429-019-01829-5 · Cited by 12
“When considering neuroanatomical sex differences in humans, volumetric distributions are largely overlapping with relatively small mean difference (Ritchie et al. 2018).”
BackgroundCross-sex hormone treatment and own-body perception: behavioral and brain connectivity profiles
Khorashad, B. S., Manzouri, A., Feusner, J. D., & Savic, I. (2021) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-020-80687-2 · Cited by 11
Quantitative imaging features predict spinal tap response in normal pressure hydrocephalus
Lotan, E., Damadian, B. E., Rusinek, H., Griffin, M., Ades‐Aron, B., Lu, N., Golomb, J. B., & GEORGE, A. E. (2021) · Neuroradiology · doi:10.1007/s00234-021-02782-z · Cited by 11
Sex differences and age-related changes of large-scale brain networks
Zhang, S., Li, M., Chen, A., Jiang, L., Yu, H., & Chen, Y. (2025) · BMC Medical Imaging · doi:10.1186/s12880-025-01811-0 · Cited by 13
“Subregional differences were not fully attributable to differences in total volume, total surface area, mean cortical thickness, or height [5].”
InfluentialHua, J. P. Y., & Mathalon, D. H. (2022) · Schizophrenia Bulletin Open · doi:10.1093/schizbullopen/sgac028 · Cited by 10
Prediction of brain age using quantitative parameters of synthetic magnetic resonance imaging
Bao, S., Liao, C., Xu, N., Deng, A., Luo, Y., Ouyang, Z., Guo, X., Liu, Y., Ke, T., & Yang, J. J. (2022) · Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnagi.2022.963668 · Cited by 10
“At present, studies have shown that men exhibit greater differences in brain structure than women during aging (Ritchie et al., 2018; Wierenga et al., 2018).”
BackgroundZhao, C., Hou, W., Jia, Y., Sahakian, B. J., & Luo, Q. (2023) · Cognitive Neurodynamics · doi:10.1007/s11571-023-09954-y · Cited by 10
“…potential confounding factors affecting the complexity analysis of rsfMRI signals, including age (Dosenbach et al. 2010), years of education (Shen et al. 2018), depression (Mulders et al. 2015), site for data collection sites (Nair et al. 2018), global signal (Li et al. 2019), and brain…”
A sex-stratified analysis of the genetic architecture of human brain anatomy
Shafee, R., Moraczewski, D., Liu, S., Mallard, T. T., Thomas, A. G., & Raznahan, A. (2024) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-024-52244-2 · Cited by 10
“…have identi fi ed several reproducible sex differences in brain anatomy, includinggreatermeantotalbrainvolumein malecompared to female participants 8,9 , which survives statistical correction for sex differences in height 10 , and sex differences in regional brain anatomy above and beyond these…”
Li, M., Schilling, K. G., Xu, L., Choi, S., Gao, Y., Zu, Z., Anderson, A. W., Ding, Z., & Gore, J. C. (2024) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120887 · Cited by 10
“…in line with existing research that underscores sex-specific patterns in brain connectivity, such as enhanced connectivity within the Default Mode Network (DMN) observed in females (Ingalhalikar et al., 2014; Ritchie et al., 2018), with cingulum playing a pivotal role in linking key DMN components.”
BackgroundGu, Y., Stauffer, E.-M., Bedford, S. A., Adhya, D., Allison, C. L., Bonnie Auyeung, B., Bamford, R., Bethlehem, R. A. I., Biron‐Shental, T., Burton, G. J., et al. (2025) · Molecular Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/s41380-025-02927-z · Cited by 11
Self-citationThe Impact of Stress Within and Across Generations: Neuroscientific and Epigenetic Considerations
Miller, C. W. T. (2021) · Harvard Review of Psychiatry · doi:10.1097/hrp.0000000000000300 · Cited by 13
Podgórski, P., Waliszewska‐Prosół, M., Zimny, A., Sąsiadek, M. J., & Bladowska, J. (2021) · Frontiers in Neurology · doi:10.3389/fneur.2021.645974 · Cited by 10
“According to current science, little is known about sex differences in RSFC (41, 42).”
BackgroundSex and gender differences in genetic and lifestyle risk and protective factors for dementia
Sindi, S., Toopchiani, S. T., Barbera, M., Håkansson, K., Lehtisalo, J., Rosenberg, A., Stephen, R., Udeh‐Momoh, C. T., & Kivipelto, M. (2021) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-819344-0.00013-2 · Cited by 11
Mauro, G. D., Maschio, N. D., Sulpizio, S., Fedeli, D., Perani, D., & Abutalebi, J. (2021) · Brain Structure and Function · doi:10.1007/s00429-021-02376-8 · Cited by 10
Uribe, C., Junqué, C., Gómez‐Gil, E., Díez‐Cirarda, M., & Guillamón, A. (2021) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-021-00508-y · Cited by 10
The fMRI correlates of visuo-spatial abilities: sex differences and gender dysphoria
Gavazzi, G., Fisher, A. D., Orsolini, S., Bianchi, A., Romani, A., Giganti, F., Giovannelli, F., Ristori, J., Mazzoli, F., Maggi, M., et al. (2022) · Brain Imaging and Behavior · doi:10.1007/s11682-022-00638-5 · Cited by 14
“, 2016) and because it was reported to have a different connectivity in males and females (Adesnik et al. 2010; Ritchie et al., 2018).”
BackgroundWhole‐brain dynamics differentiate among cisgender and transgender individuals
Uribe, C., Escrichs, A., Filippi, E. D., Perl, Y. S., Junqué, C., Gómez‐Gil, E., Kringelbach, M. L., Guillamón, A., & Deco, G. (2022) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.25905 · Cited by 10
“Higher functional connectivity in default mode regions has been reported in cis women in contrast to cis men (Biswal et al., 2010; de Lacy et al., 2019; Ritchie et al., 2018).”
BackgroundResultHome alone: A population neuroscience investigation of brain morphology substrates
Noonan, M. P., Zajner, C., & Bzdok, D. (2023) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.119936 · Cited by 11
Wilson, J. D., Gerlach, A., Karim, H. T., Aizenstein, H. J., & Andreescu, C. (2023) · Molecular Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/s41380-023-02158-0 · Cited by 10
“Furthermore, several large studies have reported signi fi cant sex differences in resting state FC unrelated to depression [21 – 23].”
The Not So Subtle and Status Quo Maintaining Nature of Everyday Sexism
Vescio, T. K., & Kosakowska‐Berezecka, N. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108561716.019 · Cited by 10
Krishnamurthy, L. C., Champion, G., McGregor, K., Krishnamurthy, V., Turabi, A., Roberts, S. R., Nocera, J. R., Borich, M. R., Rodriguez, A. D., Belagaje, S. R., et al. (2020) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-020-76382-x · Cited by 10
Shin, S., Kim, K., Nam, H., Kim, I. J., & Pak, K. (2020) · Nuclear Medicine Communications · doi:10.1097/mnm.0000000000001343 · Cited by 10
A slower rate of sulcal widening in the brains of the nondemented oldest old
Tang, H., Liu, T., Liu, H., Jiang, J., Cheng, J., Niu, H., Li, S., Brodaty, H., Sachdev, P. S., & Wen, W. X. (2021) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117740 · Cited by 11
Multimodal Image Analysis of Sexual Dimorphism in Developing Childhood Brain
Yang, X., Li, A., Li, L., Li, T., Li, P., & Liu, M. (2021) · Brain Topography · doi:10.1007/s10548-021-00823-7 · Cited by 10
Resting state functional brain imaging in obsessive-compulsive disorder across genders
Ma, Y., Zhao, Q., Xu, T., Wang, P., Gu, Q., & Wang, Z. (2021) · The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1080/15622975.2021.1938669 · Cited by 10
“A large sample study of 5216 healthy people showed that there were gender differences in approximately 54% of brain functional images (Ritchie et al. 2018).”
BackgroundBilleci, L., Calderoni, S., Conti, E., Lagomarsini, A., Narzisi, A., Gesi, C., Carmassi, C., Dell’Osso, L., Cioni, G., Muratori, F., et al. (2019) · Journal of Clinical Medicine · doi:10.3390/jcm8040487 · Cited by 10
“We restricted our investigation to male subjects with ASD and their fathers, as fathers have higher rates of BAP than mothers [22], and gender can impact on neuroanatomical findings, both in typical [56] and ASD subjects [57].”
BackgroundHeritability of Structural Patterning in the Human Cerebral Cortex
Kruggel, F., & Solodkin, A. (2020) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117169 · Cited by 9
“Similar values and regions were found in the larger UK Biobank cohort (Elliott et al. 2018; Ritchie et al. 2018).”
Cho, J., Jang, H., Noh, Y., Lee, S., Koh, S. B., Kim, S., & Kim, C. (2023) · Journal of Korean Medical Science · doi:10.3346/jkms.2023.38.e159 · Cited by 9
Silander, N. C., & Tarescavage, A. M. (2023) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-29148-7_11 · Cited by 9
Gender and cytoarchitecture differences: Functional connectivity of the hippocampal sub-regions
Alahmadi, A. A. S., Alotaibi, N. O., Hakami, N. Y., Almutairi, R. S., Darwesh, A. M. F., Abdeen, R. H., Alghamdi, J., Abdulaal, O. M., Alsharif, W. M., Sultan, S. R., et al. (2023) · Heliyon · doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20389 · Cited by 10
“Several neuroscience studies have found structural and functional differences between the brains of females and males, which may contribute to gender disparities in behavior and cognition [24,25].”
BackgroundGhiyamihoor, F., Peymani, P., Perron, J., Asemi‐Rad, A., Marzban, M., Mohite, A., Ardila, K., Aljada, B., Marzban, A., Toback, M., et al. (2025) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.70214 · Cited by 8
“…recent studies found that males exhibit slightly more pronounced cerebellar atrophy than females in most regions, pointing to sex-specific brain aging patterns (Chen and Desmond 2005; Inano et al. 2013; King et al. 2019; Ritchie et al. 2018; Schmahmann 2019; Stoodley 2012; Wang et al. 2024).”
Moulinet, I., Landeau, B., Touron, E., Sayette, V. D. L., Desgranges, B., Vivien, D., Marchant, N. L., Poisnel, G., & Chételat, G. (2021) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2021.10.004 · Cited by 11
The Effects of Testosterone on the Brain of Transgender Men
Zubiaurre‐Elorza, L., Cerdán, S., Uribe, C., Pérez-Laso, C., Marcos, A., del Cerro, M. C. R., Fernández, R., Pásaro, E., & Guillamón, A. (2021) · Androgens Clinical Research and Therapeutics · doi:10.1089/andro.2021.0008 · Cited by 11
“Female and male cisgender subjects show sex differences in cortical thickness, with the four lobes showing a thicker cortex in females than in males.(22,24) Cortical thickness does not differ statistically between TM and cisgender females.”
BackgroundResultChien, C., Seiler, M., Eitel, F., Schmitz‐Hübsch, T., Paul, F., & Ritter, K. (2022) · Multiple Sclerosis Journal - Experimental Translational and Clinical · doi:10.1177/20552173221109770 · Cited by 8
“We decreased bias in the training, validation, and test sets of the data by stratifying splitting based on both the outcome variable (low and high disease activity groupings) and sex, which is often an important confounder of MRI brain data.(40) Since the Mklaren algorithm allows for flexibility in using large numbers…”
MethodReynier, K. A., Giudice, J. S., Chernyavskiy, P., Forman, J. L., & Panzer, M. B. (2022) · Annals of Biomedical Engineering · doi:10.1007/s10439-022-03084-y · Cited by 9
Tepper, Á., Núñez, J. V., Ramírez-Mahaluf, J. P., Aguirre, J. M., Barbagelata, D., Maldonado, E. M., Dellarossa, C. D., Nachar, R., González‐Valderrama, A., Undurraga, J. P., et al. (2023) · NeuroImage Clinical · doi:10.1016/j.nicl.2023.103391 · Cited by 9
Halsey, L. G., Esteves, G. P., & Dolan, E. (2023) · Royal Society Open Science · doi:10.1098/rsos.230713 · Cited by 13
Adaptor protein complex 2 in the orbitofrontal cortex predicts alcohol use disorder
Mulholland, P. J., Berto, S., Wilmarth, P. A., McMahan, C. S., Ball, L. E., & Woodward, J. J. (2023) · Molecular Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/s41380-023-02236-3 · Cited by 11
Actions developed by the Brazilian Physiological Society to promote women’s participation in science
Mello‐Carpes, P. B., Abreu, A. R. D. P., Stanisçuaski, F., Souza, M. A., Campagnole‐Santos, M. J., & Irigoyen, M. C. (2019) · AJP Advances in Physiology Education · doi:10.1152/advan.00216.2018 · Cited by 9
“Although there are different patterns associated with sex, there is a great overlap in the cerebral volume and the cortical thickness between men and women (52).”
BackgroundRzechorzek, N. M., Saunders, O. M., Hiscox, L. V., Schwarz, T., Marioni‐Henry, K., Argyle, D. J., Schoenebeck, J. J., & Freeman, T. C. (2019) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-019-48446-0 · Cited by 9
Bolton, M. J., Mogil, H. M., & Ault, L. K. (2020) · Journal of Operational Meteorology · doi:10.15191/nwajom.2020.0804 · Cited by 9
Robustness of sex-differences in functional connectivity over time in middle-aged marmosets
Nephew, B., Febo, M., Cali, R., Workman, K. P., Payne, L., Moore, C., King, J., & Lacreuse, A. (2020) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-020-73811-9 · Cited by 10
Kisner, M. A., Sussman, L., Manuweera, T., Grodin, E. N., Fede, S. J., Sarlls, J. E., & Momenan, R. (2021) · Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental Research · doi:10.1111/acer.14678 · Cited by 9
Moore, K. J., Moertel, C. L., & Williams, L. A. (2022) · Cancer · doi:10.1002/cncr.34120 · Cited by 9
“Anatomically, male brains are approximately 10% larger in volume than female brains, and this is fairly fixed over the life course.(6,16) As such, males begin with a higher number of cells; this increases the number of mitotic events experienced by male brains, which could increase the frequency of opportunities to ac…”
BackgroundSex differences in gene regulatory networks during mid-gestational brain development
de Toledo, V. H. C., Feltrin, A. S., Barbosa, A. D. L., Tahira, A. C., & Brentani, H. (2022) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2022.955607 · Cited by 12
“Total and regional volume, for example, differs between males and females, including during fetal development (Ritchie et al., 2018; Galjaard et al., 2019).”
BackgroundMijalkov, M., Veréb, D., Jamialahmadi, O., Canal-García, A., Gómez-Ruiz, E., Dídac Vidal-piñeiro, A., Romeo, S., Volpe, G., & Pereira, J. B. (2022) · Network Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/netn_a_00286 · Cited by 9
“…genes implicated in aging-related physiological processes as well as cognition, brain structure, and vascular disease, which have been previously shown to differ between men and women (McCarrey et al., 2016; Ramirez & Sullivan, 2018; Ritchie et al., 2018; Sachdev et al., 2009; Weiss et al., 2003).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialQu’est-ce que la psychologie évolutive ?
Elimari, N., & Lafargue, G. (2022) · L’Année psychologique · doi:10.3917/anpsy1.231.0173 · Cited by 10
Ju, S., Horien, C. L., Shen, X., Abuwarda, H., Trainer, A. E., Constable, R. T., & Fredericks, C. A. (2023) · Frontiers in Dementia · doi:10.3389/frdem.2023.1126016 · Cited by 10
“At rest, women have relatively higher DMN connectivity (Biswal et al., 2010; Scheinost et al., 2015; Cavedo et al., 2018; Ritchie et al., 2018; Ficek-Tani et al., 2022), with higher posterior DMN connectivity particularly during the menopausal decades (Ficek-Tani et al.”
BackgroundSelf-citationSex Differences in the Complexity of Healthy Older Adults’ Magnetoencephalograms
Shumbayawonda, E., Abásolo, D., López‐Sanz, D., Bruña, R., Maestú, F., & Fernández, A. (2019) · Entropy · doi:10.3390/e21080798 · Cited by 9
“Interestingly, a very recent MRI investigation by Ritchie and co-workers [49] reported increased tract complexity and connectivity in the DMN within females.”
BackgroundAlteration of the Intra- and Inter-Lobe Connectivity of the Brain Structural Network in Normal Aging
Jao, C., Yeh, J., Wu, Y., Lien, L.-M., Tsai, Y., Chu, K.-E., Hsiao, C., Wang, P.-S., & Lau, C. I. (2020) · Entropy · doi:10.3390/e22080826 · Cited by 9
“Moreover, the surface area method has also verified that inter-individual differences in surface area are strongly influenced by sex differences [11].”
MethodSex differences in hippocampal connectivity during spatial long‐term memory
Spets, D. S., Fritch, H. A., & Slotnick, S. D. (2021) · Hippocampus · doi:10.1002/hipo.23319 · Cited by 9
“…that investigated sex differences using resting-state fMRI data found higher functional connectivity in sensorimotor, visual, and anterior lateral prefrontal areas for males than females and higher functional connectivity within the default network for females than males (Ritchie et al., 2018).”
BackgroundInfluentialThe influence of age and sex on the absolute cell numbers of the human brain cerebral cortex
Castro-Fonseca, E., de Morais, V. A. C., da Silva, C. G., Wollner, J., Freitas, J., Neto, A. F. M., Oliveira, L. E., de Oliveira, V. C., Leite, R. E. P., Alho, A. T. D. L., et al. (2023) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhad148 · Cited by 9
Gender differences in the functional language networks at birth: a resting-state fNIRS study
Hu, A., Tong, X.-Q., Yang, L., Shi, Z., Long, Q., Chen, M., & Lee, Y. (2024) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhae196 · Cited by 8
Sexual and Metabolic Differences in Hippocampal Evolution: Alzheimer’s Disease Implications
Martínez-Martos, J. M., Cantón-Habas, V., Rich‐Ruiz, M., Reyes-Medina, M. J., Ramírez-Expósito, M. J., & Carrera-González, M. P. (2024) · Life · doi:10.3390/life14121547 · Cited by 8
Gómez‐Ramírez, J., & González-Rosa, J. J. (2021) · Brain Structure and Function · doi:10.1007/s00429-021-02305-9 · Cited by 8
The Impact of Gender and Culture in Consumer Behavior
Ng, S., Bharti, M., & Faust, N. T. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108561716.021 · Cited by 9
Metadata
- Authors
- Ritchie, S. J., Cox, S. R., Shen, X., Lombardo, M. V., Reus, L. M., Alloza, C., Harris, M. A., Alderson, H. L., Hunter, S., Neilson, E., Liewald, D. C. M., Auyeung, B., Whalley, H. C., Lawrie, S. M., Gale, C. R., Bastin, M. E., McIntosh, A. M., & Deary, I. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Amsterdam UMC Location Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
- Queen Margaret Hospital (GB)
- NHS Lothian (GB)
- Department of Psychology, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
- Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
- Corresponding author
- Ritchie, Stuart J
- ORCID
- Venue
- Cerebral Cortex
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2018-05-16
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 2959-2975
- ISSN
- 1047-3211 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2199
- PMC
- PMC6041980
- OpenAlex
- W2952574438
- Cited by
- 855
- References
- 125
- Citations by year
- 2026: 75 · 2025: 86 · 2024: 101 · 2023: 110 · 2022: 105 · 2021: 130 · 2020: 138 · 2019: 68 · 2018: 35
- FWCI
- 88.29
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Cerebral Cortex (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Amsterdam UMC (VU Amsterdam) - Institutional Repository (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) (acceptedVersion)
- Pure Amsterdam UMC (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- CCACE (MR/K026992/1)
- MRC (MR/M013111/1)
- Dementias Platform UK (MR/L015382/1)
- STRADL (104036/Z/14/Z)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Sex and Gender in Healthcare
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
- Keywords
- sex differences, adult human brain, brain structure, brain function, brain volume, cortical thickness, white matter fractional anisotropy, functional connectome, default mode network, sensorimotor cortex, UK Biobank
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Brain, Brain Mapping, Female, United Kingdom, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Oxygen, Rest, Sex Characteristics, Biological Specimen Banks, Community Health Planning, Connectome, White Matter
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
