Evolutionary framework for identifying sex- and species-specific vulnerabilities in brain development and functions

Abstract

Sexual selection describes the reproductive dynamics that drive the evolution of many sex differences but is rarely used to guide the study of brain development or function. This Mini-Review describes how these dynamics can result in trait elaboration in one sex or the other and why these traits have a heightened sensitivity to stressors. The framework provides a conceptual model that will help to organize what we know about sex differences in brain and cognition, a means to focus the search for additional sex differences, and a means to predict brain systems that are particularly vulnerable to disruption by exposure to stressors. This Mini-Review briefly illustrates these points using sex differences in birdsong and spatial navigation to highlight the benefits and the nuances of using evolutionary theory to help frame neuroscience studies of sex differences. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.