What Sex is Your Brain? Take A Free Sex ID Test from BBC Television

Link for this post: What Sex is Your Brain -- on BBC Science and Nature

According to BBC Television, "Some researchers say that men can have 'women's brains' and that women can think more like men." What sex is your brain?" is a free psychology test from BBC Television that helps you determine which sex your brain resembles in its unique pattern.

Here is some information from the website:

Find out more about 'brain sex' differences by taking the Sex ID test, a series of visual challenges and questions used by psychologists in the BBC One television series Secrets of the Sexes:

• Get a brain sex profile and find out if you think like a man or a woman.
• See if you can gaze into someone's eyes and know what they're thinking.
• Find out why scientists are interested in the length of your fingers.
• See how your results relate to theories about brain sex

I first posted about this back in September of 2005 and a lot of things have happened with this test since then. Here is updated information from the BBC site:

The BBC collaborated with a team of psychologists to create Sex ID, which brings together a series of separate psychological tests related to brain sex differences for the first time.

Most scientists agree that men and women are of equal intelligence, but some believe that they may have differing mental strengths and weaknesses, on average. The reasons for these brain sex differences, if they exist, are not known, though there are a number of theories that offer possible explanations.

Originally the Sex ID website was an online experiment, linked to a database that recorded test takers' answers. The main aims of the experiment were to further investigate theories about brain sex differences and to make new discoveries.

During May 2005 the BBC stopped collecting data because the experiment was finished. Many questions were removed to make the test more fun. People can still test themselves with the challenges used in the experiment, and they will still get the same results profile they would have had if they'd finished the test on the full-sized experiment site.

(Note: The above link to the full-sized version of Sex ID has been provided for people who want to see all the questions asked during the experiment. However, the shortened Sex ID test will be the most enjoyable version for most people.)

The scientists who helped design the test are now studying the data we collected to see if there are recognizable trends, which confirm or contradict current theories about brain sex differences. They will attempt to link test takers' answers to a series of questions with their performance on tasks thought to display sex differences.

The BBC used the scientists' analyses in the BBC One series Secrets of the Sexes.

The scientists are using the data in their research and have published some of their results.

When you are ready to take the test, click here.