The gendered self: Evidence for differences in whole-brain dynamics

Abstract

How the brain constructs gender identity is largely unknown, but some neural differences have recently been discovered. Here, we used an intrinsic-ignition framework to investigate if gender identity changes the propagation of the neural activity across the whole-brain network and within resting-state networks. Studying 29 transmen and 17 transwomen with gender incongruence, 22 ciswomen, and 19 cismen, we computed the capability of a given brain area in space to propagate activity to other areas (mean-ignition) and its variability across time (node-metastability). We found that both measures differentiated all four groups across the whole-brain network. Furthermore, at the network level, we found that compared to the other groups, cismen showed higher mean-ignition of the dorsal attention network and node-metastability of the dorsal and ventral attention, executive control, and temporal parietal networks. We also found mean-ignition differences between cismen and ciswomen within the executive control network, but higher in ciswomen than cismen and transmen for the default-mode network. For the node-metastability, this was higher in cismen compared to ciswomen in the somatomotor network, while both mean-ignition and node-metastability were higher for cismen than transmen in the limbic network. Finally, we computed correlations between both measures and their body image scores. Transmen dissatisfaction, cismen, and ciswomen satisfaction towards their own body image were distinctively associated with specific networks per group. Overall, the study of the whole-brain network dynamical complexity discriminates binary gender identity groups, and functional connectivity dynamics approaches are needed to disentangle the complex understanding of the gendered self. Significance statementThe study of sex/gender differences may be enriched by the heterogeneity of other gender minority groups, such as transgender. Functional connectivity measures capturing the spatio-temporal oscillations of the brain can provide insights on how the brain cooperates. This is the first study investigating how the whole-brain network propagates information across the brain, spatially and temporally, in binary gender groups (cisgender and transgender) by means of the intrinsic-ignition framework. We found four whole-brain unique phenotypes pertaining to each gender group, namely cismen, ciswomen, transmen and transwomen. Novel functional connectivity dynamics frameworks can contribute to disentangle the complex experience of a gendered-self.