AUTISM Professor says male, female brains differ

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Cambridge University professor Simon Baron-Cohen thinks he knows why autism strikes four times as many boys as girls, but his theory of general differences between male and female brains has generated quite a bit of debate.
Baron-Cohen theorizes that the female brain is predominantly hard-wired for empathy, and that the male brain is predominantly hard-wired for understanding and building systems -- although he is quick to note that the rule doesn't always hold true.
According to his "empathizing-systemizing" theory, autism -- a neurological disorder that affects social interaction and communication -- and the possibly related Asperger syndrome are extreme male versions of the brain. "What seems to be core [to autism] is an empathy problem alongside a very strong drive to systemize," he told an audience of about 150 people Wednesday at an autism conference by the Bancroft Neuroscience Institute.
Baron-Cohen cites evidence from questionnaires, psychological tests and observations of very young children showing early sex differences. Even day-old baby boys, for example, are more likely to look longer at a mechanical mobile, but girls look longer at a person's face.
Autistic-type disorders, he said, appear to be an extreme version of the male brain. What causes such a shift is unclear, he said, but possible candidates include genetic differences and prenatal testosterone.
High levels of fetal testosterone mean less eye contact on the part of infants, and Canadian researchers have found that such levels mean better scores on systemizing tests, he said.
Baron-Cohen said his ideas and his new book "The Essential Difference: The Truth About the Male and Female Brain," had been greeted with interest rather than the hostility he feared after "decades of political correctness" in which the idea of any biological sex differences was anathema.