A new study conducted by the City University of New York has found that men and women perceive details and colors differently. The research team, led by Israel Abramov, discovered that the processing of information received through the eyes functions differently in the brains of men and women. As a result, men are able to perceive details much sharper, while women are able to detect finer color differences. This is likely due to the male hormone testosterone, which has been shown to influence the development of nerves in the embryonic phase.
Previous studies have shown that the neurons in the human visual center have numerous receptors for testosterone, leading to gender-specific differences even in the womb. Women have an average of 20% fewer neurons in the visual center than men, but the impact of this difference on visual perception was previously unknown. Abramov and his colleagues conducted tests on 58 male and 58 female participants, all of whom had normal vision. The tests included special visual tests on a monitor, with one task requiring the detection of fine color gradations and another testing the ability to perceive details using fine black and white bars displayed at different frequencies.
The results of the study showed that men were better able to perceive details than women, even in the presence of distractions. Strong flickering also had less of an impact on men’s ability to perceive details than women’s. However, women were better able to distinguish fine color details than men. The evolutionary reason for these differences is still unclear, but the researchers speculate that they may be related to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of early humans, who relied heavily on their senses for survival.
In conclusion, this study sheds light on the differences in visual perception between men and women, with men being better at perceiving details and women being better at distinguishing fine color differences. The findings may have implications for fields such as design and advertising, where understanding gender-specific visual perception could be important.
