article_snippet.sent: In the SBS One series Horizon Professor Alice Roberts and Dr Michael Mosley examine the links between gender and the brain .
article_snippet.sent: Alice thinks apparent brain differences between the sexes have been exaggerated by how Professor Alice Roberts and me culture treats boys and girls.
article_snippet.sent: While Professor Baron-Cohen accepts social pressures are important in influencing choices and behaviour, Professor Baron-Cohen studies suggest the hormones babies are exposed to in the womb can also shape the brain.
article_snippet.sent: Higher levels of testosterone in utero, for example — as measured in long-term studies that took samples from pregnant women then followed pregnant women children from birth — are associated with offspring who are less empathetic but better at some mental skills later in life.
article_snippet.sent: In other words, more testosterone during pregnancy produces babies with a more male brain (we’re not yet sure why some mothers produce more testosterone).
article_snippet.sent: Professor Baron-Cohen does these studies because Professor Baron-Cohen is interested in autism, which Professor Baron-Cohen describes as an extreme version of the male brain — more interested in systems and often struggling with empathy.
article_snippet.sent: When Professor Baron-Cohen started Professor Baron-Cohen research there was a lot of criticism, based partly on the fear studies like Professor Baron-Cohen will be used to support unhelpful stereotypes — suggesting men can’t excel in female areas and vice versa.
article_snippet.sent: This may be pure machismo, but Professor Jeff Mogil of McGill University, Montreal, thinks there is more to it.
article_snippet.sent: As he puts it: ‘There are all kinds of reasons to believe there are different neural systems in the brain of males and females.
highlights_snippet.sent: A person's brain often reflects A person's brain gender.
highlights_snippet.sent: The film examines different theories and studies about gender and the brain .
  