B
Americanresearchersfoundfemalesarethemoretalkativesexbecauseofaspecial“languageprotein(蛋白质)”inthebrain.
Thestudyconductedbyneuroscientists(神经学家)andpsychologistfromtheUniversityofMarylandconcludedthatwomentalkedmorebecausetheyhadmoreoftheFoxp2protein.TheresearchpublishedintheJournalofNeurosciencefoundthathigherlevelswerefoundamonghumansthatwerewomenbutinratsthatweremales.Theirfindingscameafteritwaspreviouslyclaimedthatladiesspeakabout20000wordsaday–over13000morethanmen.“Thisstudyisoneofthefirsttoreportasexdifferenceintheexpressionofalanguage-associatedproteininhumansoranimals”saidProfMargaretMcCarthywholedthestudy.Intheirstudytheresearchersattemptedtodeterminewhatmightmakemaleratsmorevocalthantheirfemalefriends.
Theyseparatedfour-day-oldratsfromtheirmothersandthencountedthenumberoftimestheycriedoutinthe“ultrasonicrange”thefrequencieshigherthanhumanscanhearoverfiveminutes.Whilebothsexescalledouthundredsofcriesthemalescalledouttwiceasoftentheyfound.Butwhenthepupswerereturnedtotheirmother’scageshefussedoverhersonsfirst.TestsconductedonthepartsofthebrainknowntobeassociatedwithvocalcallsshowedthemalepupshaveuptotwiceasmuchFoxp2proteinasthefemales.Theresearchersthenincreasedtheproductioninthebrainsoffemalepupsandreduceditinmales.Thisledtothefemaleratscryingoutmoreoftenandtheirmothersshowingmoreinteresttothem.Incontrastmalesbecameless“talkative”.
Theresearchersthentestedsamplesfromtenchildrenagedbetweenthreeandfivewhichshowedthatfemaleshadupto30percentmoreoftheFoxp2proteinthanmalesinabrainareakeytolanguageinhumans.
“BasedonourobservationsweassumehigherlevelsofFoxp2ingirlsandhigherlevelsofFoxp2inmaleratsisanindicationthatFoxp2proteinlevelsareassociatedwiththemorecommunicativesex”saidProfMcCarthy.“OurresultsimplyFoxp2asacomponentoftheneurobiologicalbasisofsexdifferencesinvocalcommunicationinmammals.“
1.Whatcanbeinferredfromthesecondparagraph?
A.womenalwaysspeakmorewordsthanmen.
B.menandmalera