Women are more sensitive to distinguishing colors, while men are more adept at picking out details in the distance and moving objects.
According to a study published in Biology of Sex Differences, this difference would depend on neuronal development in the visual cortex, a process in which male hormones, such as testosterone, are important. In this brain region, in particular, man has a greater concentration of androgen receptors and, in visual centers, has 25% more neurons than females.
To understand if these biological differences were also reflected at a functional level, the researchers compared the visual abilities in a group of volunteers, subjecting them to tests that measured two parameters dependent on specific groups of neurons located in the brain: the ability to recognize colors and sensitivity to spatial contrasts . The results showed that women were better at recognizing various shades of colors belonging to the visual spectrum, while for men this ability was lower. On the other hand, however, males have been more adept at picking up the details of moving objects than the females did.
As with other sensory systems, such as hearing and smell, it has been so obvious that men and women have differences. How testosterone leads to a different connectivity between the neurons of the visual cortex in the two sexes remains to be defined.
This interpretation, however, could explain the "sexual roles" in prehistory: the male "hunters" would have adapted to distinguish possible prey or predators from afar, while the "gathering" females probably recognized more easily berries and fruits, based on the color .
