It turns out the women were right all along about us–a study shows we really doonly listen with half our brains:
However, before the ladies get all smug, it should be noted that this doesn’t mean women are necessarily better listeners. The head of the study–Dr. Joseph T. Lurito, Assistant Professor of Radiology at the Indiana University School of Medicine–points out that it might mean women have a hardertime listening, since they apparently need more of their brain to do it. 
Please remember that these findings pertain to the more common right handed male. Ambidexterous lefties like me are far less lateralized than most males. Women are routinely less lateralized than most men. This is why they are able to overcome temporal brain injuries that render most men aphasic.
[sub]LATERALIZATION REFERS TO THE CONCENTRATION OF BRAIN [/sub]
[sup]FUNCTION(S) IN ONE OR THE OTHER HEMISPHERE[/sup]
Interesting.
But how does the last part work with women (in theory) being able to follow more than one conversation at once? Or, rather, to listen to more than one source of sound better than men seem able to? I have never read anything on this subject, so forgive me if none of this is true, but it certainly seems to be the case among the people I know! My best friend is deaf in one ear and still sometimes has an easier time following two conversations than my boyfriend does! I would think that would mean that we use more of our brains to listen because we are trying to hear and react to more things.
As an evolutionary WAG, this kinda makes sense if women were to be responsible for raising many children… it would be beneficial to be able to pay attention to the sounds of all of them. The hunting men, however, would have to concentrate their hearing on a particular prey, and not be too bothered by other sounds around him.
I think I veered away from MPSIMS here… sorry!
Could also confirm my (and most women’s, I’d guess) theory that men have a one-track mind.
Robin
Not true, Robin - this adaptation is so we can watch the game AND listen to John Madden at the same time. We only use half the brain so we can multitask.
I saw a story on 20/20, or one of those news shows about this. They had men and women each wear headphones where a different story was being told in each of their ears.
The men were able to concentrate on one of the stories and just blank the other one out. They could recount all the details from one story, but had no idea about the other one.
The women, on the other hand, kind of bounced back and forth between the two stories, keeping tabs on both. When questioned about details, they knew some about both stories, but not as much detail as the men knew about the one. They also confused the two stories on several occasions.
IIRC, one of the experts mentioned your theory about the women needing to be aware of everything going on (picking food, watching kids, etc.), while the men had to have one focus (killing the prey).
What the study didn’t take into consideration is that we don’t use half our brains, it’s just that sometimes we let half our brains focus on something besides… well… go here and watch…
http://www.adcritic.com/content/fx-network-the-x-show-reporter-sex-dan.html
mnemosyne
The yahoo news link, whilst stating that quote that he didn’t want to start a battle of the sexes, omits his further comments about women listening to more than one conversion at a time may be enabled by/reflected in these findings. If you try the story at the bbc news site (linked below), it gives a more complete story.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1044000/1044805.stm
Hrm, if women use the right half of their brain, the side typically associated with creativity, then that would explain why some women tend to listen, well, creatively, if you know what I mean. And I think you guys probably do.
Creatively and, as noted in my post above, selectively. It’s a wonder us men can communicate with them at all. I have no idea how it’s possible for them to communicate with each other.
::ducks and runs for cover::
Of course we men only use half of our brains. The brain is responsible for performing our jobs, keeping track of sports stats, and the like. We do most of our other thinking with our dicks.
:::channels JDT
“The only men who think with half their brains are those that have been circumcised!”
:::resumes pcubic behaivior
Huh?
What?
Say again?
You see there was…
And then…
So naturally I thought…
Oh, bother. Never mind.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
huh? waitaminit…
Sorry, but when I read the topic my first thought was “that much?”
–sublight.
Men only listen with 1/2 their brains?
I think that is a rather optimistic figure.
Actually, we have 8-track minds, but they don’t make those anymore. (Thanks to Steven Wright)
And I’m with wyldelf. When did we actually start listening?
Im deaf, so guess how much of my brain I listen with?