Empathy

Gender differences in brain networks supporting empathy 

"Females frequently score higher on standard tests of empathy, social sensitivity, and emotion recognition than do males."
"The data suggest that females recruit areas containing mirror neurons to a higher degree than males during both SELF- and OTHER-related processing in empathic face-to-face interactions. This may underlie facilitated emotional “contagion” in females."
"The data suggest that females and males rely on different strategies when assessing their own emotions in response to other people."
Martin Schulte-Rüther, Institute of Neuroscience and Biophysics, Jülich, Germany

http://perso.ens-lyon.fr/annececile.boulay/UE%20biblio/pdf/7.5.Schulte-Ruther.NeuroImage08.pdf