Neuroscience of sex differences
Brain networks
Brain networks
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Both males and females have consistent active [working memory](/wiki/Working_memory "Working memory") networks composed of both middle frontal gyri, the left [cingulate gyrus](/wiki/Cingulate_gyrus "Cingulate gyrus"), the right [precuneus](/wiki/Precuneus "Precuneus"), the left [inferior](/wiki/Inferior_parietal_lobule "Inferior parietal lobule") and [superior parietal lobes](/wiki/Parietal_lobe "Parietal lobe"), the right [claustrum](/wiki/Claustrum "Claustrum"), and the left [middle temporal gyrus](/wiki/Middle_temporal_gyrus "Middle temporal gyrus"). Although the same brain networks are used for working memory, specific regions are sex\-specific. Sex differences were evident in other networks, as women also tend to have higher activity in the prefrontal and [limbic](/wiki/Limbic_system "Limbic system") regions, such as the anterior cingulate, bilateral amygdala, and right hippocampus, while men tend to have a distributed network spread out among the [cerebellum](/wiki/Cerebellum "Cerebellum"), portions of the superior [parietal lobe](/wiki/Parietal_lobe "Parietal lobe"), the left [insula](/wiki/Insular_cortex "Insular cortex"), and bilateral [thalamus](/wiki/Thalamus "Thalamus").

A 2017 review from the perspective of [large\-scale brain networks](/wiki/Large-scale_brain_networks "Large-scale brain networks") hypothesized that women's higher susceptibility to stress\-prone diseases such as [post\-traumatic stress disorder](/wiki/Post-traumatic_stress_disorder "Post-traumatic stress disorder") and [major depressive disorder](/wiki/Major_depressive_disorder "Major depressive disorder"), in which the [salience network](/wiki/Salience_network "Salience network") is theorized to be overactive and to interfere with the [executive control network](/wiki/Executive_functions "Executive functions"), may be due in part, along with societal exposure to stressors and the coping strategies that are available to women, to underlying sex\-based brain differences.


Which regions of the brain show sex-specific activity in working memory networks?