DN.se Sweden: Gay Brains are different

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The red and yellow spots indicate areas of the amygdala in the brain that is especially developed. The lower images show how the part which is linked to emotional reactions is particularly developed among heterosexual women and gay men. The upper images show the amygdala in heterosexual men and lesbians.

Swedish researchers have found the best evidence to date that there are differences between the brains of homosexual and heterosexual people. The gay brains reminds more about the opposite sex.

- Data from this study make it difficult to regard homosexuality as a learned behavior, "said Ivanka Savic, doctors and researchers at the Stockholm Brain Institute at the Karolinska Institute.

The study is so far the best proof that there are measurable physiological differences between homosexual and heterosexual. Ivanka Savic, together with his counterpart Per Lindstrom examined the brains of ninety people from the different groups.

- Our photos show a kind of the normal brain levels. As far as I know, no one studied this in homosexual past, "said Ivanka Savic.

First, the researchers examined blood flow in the amygdala, an almond part of the brain that are particularly associated with emotional reactions.

They found that the amygdala linked to other parts of the brain looked different for different groups. In straight men and lesbians it was linked amygdala extra clear to the regions of the brain that transmit bodily movement functions.

The sections of the brain that control motor is linked to our response to external threats. Previous research also shows that the reaction "to flee or fight for life" is particularly pronounced in men.

But the most evident was the amygdala kopplingsmönster of bög and heterosexual women. It was the link more clearly to those parts of the brain that interprets emotion and physical reactions.

- It can provide an explanation as to why men and women react differently to emotional stimuli, such as stress. One interpretation is that we simply have different conditions, "said Ivanka Savic.

Women are, for example, two, three times more likely to suffer from depression than men. It may have to do with the functioning of the amygdala.

- In order to find the right treatments for depressed, it is important to know that these differences exist, "said Ivanka Savic. The researchers also found that the size of the right brain is larger in men and lesbians heterosexual men.

The researchers found a common pattern in the study, published in the American Academy of Sciences journal PNAS: the brains of the homosexual recalls more about the opposite sex.

- We do not know why this is so or what it does for importance. We can only conclude that it is so in some parts of the brain, "said Ivanka Savic.

Sören Juve is on the Federal Riksförbundet for sexual equality, RFSL. He thinks that the study is exciting.

- But in fact it is not needed. It is not important if the homo-and bisexuality are congenital or not. We will not have to legitimize our sexuality to be treated equally in society, "he says.

Anna Bratt

P. Attard Note: The Karolinska Institutet (KI) - is one of the most respectable Research Institutes in the world - they give out the Nobel Prize in Medicine. (http://www.ki.se/)