Brain, Gender, and Speech

The average woman speaks more words per day than the average male. Some studies have shown that women talk at least three times as much as men. Other studies have shown that women tend to speak more quickly and devote a larger portion of brainpower to speaking. There have always been questions regarding the contribution of socialization versus biology. Researchers at the University of Maryland School of medicine have been studying a gene that was discovered in 2001¾FOXP2 appears to be essential for the production of speech. Study results (published in The journal of Neuroscience) have shown that the brains of girls have 30% more of this FOXP2 protein. Possessing more of this "language protein" in their brains could help explain the reason females are more talkative and perhaps the reason they also tend to be better at small talk. Each person has his or her own opinion of whether this is good or bad. Someone asked, "Is there a cure?" My response was, "A cure for what? It is what it is."