A study by neuroscientists of the University of Milano-Biocca suggests that gender-stereotypes are deeply rooted within our brains, and that areas of the brain that are involved in storing and processing information were involved, which are normally known to support the ability to attribute intentions and meaning to behavior of our peers.
For the study, the team monitored the neural activity of seven female and eight male students via EEG, while they read different sentences off the computer screen, being advised to push a button in case the sentences ended with an animal word, reading a total of 240 sentences which did or did not violate gender stereotypes, as well as 32 sentences ending with an animal word.
The result was that the first kind of sentences elicited distinctive patterns in the brain’s activity, event-related potentials or ERPs, typically observed after reading or hearing grammatical errors. It was also observed that even the well-educated participants shared the same gender bias prejudice as the “general public”, based on what media or current knowledge drives; also, because our brain detects specific statistical frequencies or regularities of events linked to gender-stereotypes, which influences our predictions and understanding of the world.
In the experiment, the participants responded with violation signals to sentences where women performed “male” jobs, and vice versa.
This doesn’t bode well for solving anything any time soon.
tinfoilparachute 