Greater activation of the response inhibition network in females compared to males during stop signal task performance.

Abstract

Previous neuroimaging studies have reported differences in regional brain activation between males and females during stop signal task performance, suggesting the presence of sex-linked differences in brain network organization of inhibitory ability. Despite a growing literature on sex differences during stop signal task performance, a consensus still has not been reached due to variations in task design and analysis methods. Due to these disparate findings we used up to date stop signal task methods to compare behavioral performance and associated brain activation between males and females using an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging design. We observed that males were faster in inhibiting their responses, but females exhibited marked increased in stopping network activation, in addition to increased activation of the anterior insula and left amygdala. These findings suggest that males and females process stop signals differently.