Possibly Scamvougeras et.al. work wasn't published because it didn't stand up to rigorous scrutiny for full publication? Just a thought. BTW, I'm continually baffled at why, when differences are discovered between adults' brains structure and chemistry, the assumption is almost always that this difference existed from birth? As we all know, literally thousands of studies have revealed the crucial role of early experience in sculpting our brain--i.e., brain plasticity. So why isn't this discussed in these publications as a viable alternative hypothesis?
Joan Warmbold > Michael Sylvester was challenged about his remark of "talk" of an > association between the > corpus callosum and sexual orientation. He was asked for a reference. He > replied: > >> It either came from LeVay or check out a Brain/Mind video > > I thought this was interesting, so I looked into it. There is no published > work, as far as I can > find, on the corpus callosum and sexual orientation. However, Allen and > Gorski (1992) did > report that the anterior commissure was larger in homosexual than in > heterosexual men. > > Since I could find no such study, I went right to the top, and wrote to > Dr. LeVay. Through the > magic of the Internet, he replied almost immediately. He said he never > made any such > discovery and never published on the topic. He did say that at one time he > worked on an > MRI study, as reported by Burr, but they didn't obtain any clear results > and didn't publish it. > > > What about the claim about Sandra Witelson's finding (at McMaster, from > whence I come)? > For example, Maclean's Magazine (the Canadian _Time_ wannabe) for January > 22, 1996 > (available on-line at the Canadian encyclopedia) says "Witelson and her > research partners > illustrated another dimension of brain differences in November, 1994. In a > study involving > 21 people, they showed that part of the corpus callosum in the brains of > some homosexual > men was 13 percent larger than in the heterosexual men". > > Seems too specific to be made up. But where's the pub? Dr. Witelson hasn't > yet replied to > my query. But I've discovered in the meantime that this refers to a > presentation she made > with Scamvougeras as first author at the Miami meeting of the Society for > Neuroscience in > 1994. I can't get the abstract, but it was cited as recently as 1993 by > Rahman and Wilson > who say the study was MRI and confirm the Maclean's account. Given the > potential interest > in such a finding, I find it peculiar that they never published it. > > Stephen > > References > > > Allen, L., & Gorski, R. (1992). Sexual orientation and the size of the > anterior commissure in > human brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 89, > 7199-7202. > > Rahman, Q., & Wilson, G. (2003). Born gay? The psychobiology of human > sexual > orientation. Personality and Individual Differences, 34, 1337-1382. > > Scamvougeras, A., Witelson, S. et al (1994). Sexual orientation and > anatomy of the corpus > callosum. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts, 20, 1425. > > > ______________________________ > Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
