Beautiful minds. Episode 3, The big difference / directed by Freddie Rockenhaus, Petra Holer ; produced by Friederike Schmidt-Vogt, Svenja Mandel, ColourFIELD Tell-A-Vision.
This fascinating window into the brain approaches the huge scientific field of research through the most interesting and entertaining 'research projects', the Savants. Currently there are around one hundred recognised Savants with genius-like talents worldwide. For all brain researchers th...
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| Online Access: |
Streaming Video (via Alexander Street Press) |
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| Other Authors: | , , , , , , |
| Other title: | Little matter of gender. Big difference. |
| Format: | Video |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
[Hove, England] :
Orange Smarty,
2006.
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| Subjects: |
| Summary: | This fascinating window into the brain approaches the huge scientific field of research through the most interesting and entertaining 'research projects', the Savants. Currently there are around one hundred recognised Savants with genius-like talents worldwide. For all brain researchers the Savants are a fascinating window into the brain. Episode 3: The Big Difference Prof. Simon Baron-Cohen is not afraid of making himself unpopular. The professor of the university of Cambridge is said to be one of the greatest experts in autism research in the world. He argues that there are serious differences - at least on average - between the male and the female brain. The female brain is an 'E-brain', he says, 'E' for empathy, the ability to put oneself in the emotional position of others. On the other hand men are more likely to be 'S-brains', which stands for 'System': motor, computer etc. In extreme cases this male brain-configuration leads to autism and other malfunctions, more likely to become a savant, possessing wondrous abilities but social deficits. Baron-Cohen's findings break with the socially requested dogma that there are no big differences between the male and the female brain. The dysfunction of the extreme male brain can bring up masterminds and monsters - and savants. As a little girl Temple Grandin didn't speak at all. Later the other kids in her school laughed at her, because she seemed to repeat words and sentences she picked up like a tape recorder. Thanks to her brainpower she was able to learn the language of men like others learn foreign languages. In contrast Temple feels at home in the language of animals, who - like her - think in pictures and not in words. Prof. Baron-Cohen guesses that a male 'S-brain' and not a female 'E-brain' works in Temple's head. Today Dr. Temple Grandin is the most important woman in the steak and burger obsessed USA. She designed more then half of all cattle breeding farms of the biggest meat producing nation in the world, because she knows the fears of cows, pigs and sheep by heart. But the thoughts and minds of average people are still a mystery to her, in her life she will never be able to fall in love. It's the same with Christopher Taylor. He wouldn't be able to find the way to the pub in the village he has been living in for 20 years, but Christopher reads newspapers in almost 25 different languages. Scientists like Simon Baron-Cohen think that an overdose of the male sex hormone testosterone in the time when the embryo evolves, is responsible for extreme forms in the male brain that leads to autism and in some cases to the abilities of the savants. Are men and women principally wired differently? Are men more likely to be aggressive and violent because areas deep in their brains make them that way? Is the average female brain less system-talented but good in communication, balancing and sympathy? |
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| Item Description: | Title from resource description page (viewed May 11, 2022) "A Voyage to the Brain" |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (52 minutes) |
| Playing Time: | 00:51:25 |
| Language: | In English. |