Summer Yack Biology 1010 10:00 The article I found was on National Geographic, titled, Men and Women

Really Do See Things Differently. James Owen wrote the article. The article compares the vision of men and women. Whether or not we see shades the same way and attention to detail of objects far away. These questions are all looking to support the hunter-gatherer hypothesis. The hypothesis states that specific abilities were evolved to fit their respective roles at that time. These roles are thought to be hunting for men and for women, recognizing close objects involving color changes. Psychology professor, Israel Abramov of Brooklyn College, put young adults with normal vision through a variety of tests. For color tests they had the men and women describe the difference between shades. They started with many colors before focusing specifically on blues, greens, and yellows. They also tested in quick changing details. The tests asked participants to find the thinner, fast bars on a screen of blinking lights. No controls were mentioned in the article. The results were that women performed better in the color experiments and men excelled in the detail change tests, supporting the hunter-gatherer hypothesis. In color experiments, researchers believe that men require a slightly longer wavelength than women to see the same color. This would explain why colors such as orange appear redder to men. In the quick-change experiments, it is believed that men perform better because of neuron development in their visual cortex. This

development is thought to be boosted by their masculine hormones. Because of these hormones including testosterone, men are born with more neurons in the visual cortex of the brain. Owen concluded that mens advantage in detail was significant. They showed a great sensitivity to fine detail and quick movements. These attributes are believed to be used in finding potential predators and being able to identify objects from distance. They werent as convinced when noting womens advantages. It isnt thought that women have a distinct advantage in identifying colors. Men can see the basic differences in colors just as well as women. When asked to find subtle differences in shades, women seem to have an advantage. I think this finding will continue research into the hunter-gatherer hypothesis. What skills were acquired to help survival and have they been maintained? I think it raises a lot of questions on adaptation. How have these skills been improved to help us? I picked this article because I have grown up hunting with my family. While I have never noticed my brothers having an advantage over me, I always find it interesting when there are studies suggesting it. I believe that men and women have specific skills that do help us contribute to the world around us. It is interesting to me to read about the studies involving those skills. I think this article relates to biology because of adaptation. It has been proven before that animals can change over time to live in their surroundings. In the past, people relied on hunting to survive because what they ate what they caught.

Also, improved vision might help them to see potential threats before an attack takes place.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/09/120907-men-women-seedifferently-science-health-vision-sex/