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Brain Sciences
Special Issues
Neurobiology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identification—Findings and Challenges
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Neurobiology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identification—Findings and Challenges

A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Neuropsychology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 May 2023) | Viewed by 2672

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Ilan Dar-Nimrod

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Psychology, Faculty of Science, Rm No, 420 Brennan MacCallum Building, A18, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Interests: sex and sexuality; gender psychology; genetic by environment interactions; per-sonality and individual differences; death and meaninglessness; existential psy-chology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The discourse surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity has seen seismic shifts in the past few decades in many countries around the world. Research focus on questions related to these topics has been flourishing during this time, reflecting and at times facilitating greater societal attention. Whereas much of the research on these topics addresses personal and social elements such as inclusion, prejudice, morality, and rights, biological underpinnings of the aetiologies of gender and sexual orientation minorities have been invoked repeatedly by both scientists and activists of social reforms and acceptance of LGBTQIA+ rights.

The purpose of this Special Issue of Brain Sciences is to provide an outlet for cutting-edge research on questions related to the neurobiology of sexual orientation and gender identity as well as how such research may affect the greater societal discourse on these topics. Relevant questions may address but are not limited to neuroanatomical comparisons of groups that differ in their sexual orientation or gender identity, comparisons of (sexual/non-sexual) stimuli processing between such groups, updated reviews and/or metanalyses of the existing neurobiological research that focuses on one or more such groups, and ethical considerations for neurobiological research that focuses on gender and/or sexual orientation minorities.

Dr. Ilan Dar-Nimrod
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sexual orientation
  • sexual minorities
  • LGBT+
  • LBGTQIA+
  • gender identity
  • transgender
  • genderqueer
  • gender non-binary
  • neuroimaging
  • MRI
  • neurobiology
  • neuroanatomy
  • ethics

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 742 KiB  
Article
Cortical Structure Differences in Relation to Age, Sexual Attractions, and Gender Dysphoria in Adolescents: An Examination of Mean Diffusivity and T1 Relaxation Time
by Malvina N. Skorska, Lindsey T. Thurston, Jessica M. Biasin, Gabriel A. Devenyi, Kenneth J. Zucker, M. Mallar Chakravarty, Meng-Chuan Lai and Doug P. VanderLaan
Brain Sci. 2023, 13(6), 963; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13060963 - 17 Jun 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1860
Abstract
Recent research found that the combination of masculine gender identity and gynephilia was associated with cortical T1 relaxation time, which is considered to reflect gray matter density. We hypothesized that mean diffusivity (MD), a diffusion tensor imaging metric that reflects the degree to [...] Read more.
Recent research found that the combination of masculine gender identity and gynephilia was associated with cortical T1 relaxation time, which is considered to reflect gray matter density. We hypothesized that mean diffusivity (MD), a diffusion tensor imaging metric that reflects the degree to which water movement is free versus constrained, in combination with T1 relaxation time would provide further insight regarding cortical tissue characteristics. MD and T1 relaxation time were measured in 76 cortical regions in 15 adolescents assigned female at birth who experience gender dysphoria (GD AFAB) and were not receiving hormone therapy, 17 cisgender girls, and 14 cisgender boys (ages 12–17 years). Sexual orientation was represented by the degree of androphilia–gynephilia and the strength of sexual attraction. In multivariate analyses, cortical T1 relaxation time showed a weak but statistically significant positive association with MD across the cortex, suggesting that macromolecule-rich cortical tissue also tends to show water movement that is somewhat more constrained. In further multivariate analyses, in several left frontal, parietal, and temporal regions, the combination of shorter T1 relaxation time and faster MD was associated with older age and greater gynephilia in GD AFAB individuals and cisgender boys and with stronger attractions in cisgender boys only. Thus, for these cortical regions in these groups, older age, gynephilia, and stronger attractions (cisgender boys only) were associated with macromolecule-rich tissue in which water movement was freer—a pattern that some prior research suggests is associated with greater cell density and size. Overall, this study indicates that investigating T1 relaxation time and MD together can further inform how cortical gray matter tissue characteristics relate to age and psychosexuality. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neurobiology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identification—Findings and Challenges)
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