Mars and Venus

women are equipped with far more finely tuned sensory skills than men

Neuropsychologist Professor Ruben Gur of the University of Pennsylvania used brain scan tests to show that when a man’s brain is in a resting state, at least 70% of its electrical activity is shut down. Scans of women’s brains showed 90% activity during the same state, confirming that women are constantly receiving and analysing information from their environment

The Eyes Have It
The eye is an extension of the brain that sits outside the skull. The retina at the back of the eyeball contains about 130 million rod-shaped cells called photoreceptors to deal with black and white, and seven million cone-shaped cells to handle colour. The X chromosome provides these colour cells. Women have two X chromosomes which gives them a greater variety of cones than men and this difference is noticeable in how women describe colours in greater detail. A man will use basic colour descriptions like red, blue and green, but a woman will talk of bone, aqua, teal, mauve and apple green.

Eyes in the Back of her Head?
Well, not quite, but close. Women not only have a greater variety of cones in the retina, they also have wider peripheral vision than men. As a nest-defender, a woman has brain software that allows her to receive an arc of at least 45° clear vision to each side of her head and above and below her nose. Many women’s peripheral vision is effective up to almost 180°. A man’s eyes are larger than a woman’s and his brain configures them for a type of long-distance tunnel vision which means that he can see clearly and accurately directly in front of him and over greater distances, almost like a pair of binoculars.

As a hunter, a man needed vision that would allow him to zero in on, and pursue, targets in the distance. He evolved with almost blinkered vision so that he would not be distracted from targets, whereas a woman needed eyes to allow a wide arc of vision so that she could monitor any predators sneaking up on the nest. This is why modern men can find their way effortlessly to a distant pub, but can never find things in fridges, cupboards and drawers.

The Slippery Case of the Missing Butter
Every woman in the world has had the following conversation with a male who is standing in front of an open fridge.

David: ‘Where’s the butter?’
Jan: ‘It’s in the fridge. ‘
David: ‘I’m looking there, but I can’t see any butter. ‘
Jan: ‘Well it’s there. I put it in ten minutes ago!’
David: ‘No. You must have put it somewhere else. There’s definitely no butter in this fridge!’

At that, Jan strides into the kitchen, thrusts her arm into the fridge and, as if by magic, produces a tub of butter. Inexperienced men sometimes feel that this is a trick and they accuse women of always hiding things from them in drawers and cupboards. Socks, shoes, underwear, jam, butter, car keys, wallets – they’re all there, they just can’t see them. With her wider arc of peripheral vision a woman can see most of the contents of a fridge or cupboard without moving her head. Her oestrogen hormones allow her to identify matching items in a drawer, cupboard or across a room and later remember objects in a complex random pattern – such as where the butter or jam is in the refrigerator. New research also suggests that male brains are searching in the fridge for the word B-U-T-T-E-R. If it’s facing the wrong way, he virtually can’t see it. This is why men move their heads. Men move their heads from side to side and up and down as they scan for the ‘missing’ objects.

Men and Ogling
Wider peripheral vision is the reason why women rarely get caught ogling men.
Almost every man has been accused at some time or other of ogling the opposite sex, but few women receive the same complaint from men. Sex researchers everywhere report that women look at men’s bodies as much as, and sometimes more than, men look at women’s. Yet women, with their superior peripheral vision, rarely get caught.