HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS Psychiatric Bulletin Advances in Psychiatric Treatment All RCPsych Journals		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Shirao, N. Articles by Yamawaki, S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Shirao, N. Articles by Yamawaki, S.

Gender differences in brain activity generated by unpleasant word stimuli concerning body image: an fMRI study

Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, and Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST), Japan Science and Technology Corporation, Seika

Yuri Okamoto, MD, PhD

Hiroshima University Health Service Center, Hiroshima

Shigeto Yamawaki, MD, PhD

Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, and CREST, Seika, Japan

Correspondence: Dr Shigeto Yamawaki, Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Division of Frontier Medical Science, Programs for Biomedical Research, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, 1-2-3 Kasumi, Minami-ku, Hiroshima 734-8551, Japan.Tel: +81 82 257 5207; fax: +81 82 257 5209; e-mail: yamawaki{at}hiroshima-u.ac.jp

Declaration of interest None.

Funding detailed in Acknowledgement.

Background We have previously reported that the temporomesial area, including the amygdala, is activated in women when processing unpleasant words concerning body image.

Aims To detect gender differences in brain activation during processing of these words.

Method Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to investigate 13 men and 13 women during an emotional decision task consisting of unpleasant words concerning body image and neutral words.

Results The left medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus were activated only among men, and the left amygdala was activated only among women during the task; activation in the apical prefrontal region was significantly greater in men than in women.

Conclusions Our data suggest that the prefrontal region is responsible for the gender differences in the processing of words concerning body image, and may also be responsible for gender differences in susceptibility to eating disorders.