Gender Differences in Affective and Neural Responses to Teacher Praise and Criticism in University Students: An <scp>fNIRS</scp> Study

Teacher praise and criticism significantly influence students' learning and emotional development, yet the neural basis of how males and females process evaluative language remains unclear. This study used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to examine gender differences in neural responses to emotional evaluation in educational contexts. A total of 35 female and 34 male students were recruited to listen to audio recordings of teacher evaluations with positive, negative, and neutral valences while their brain activity was monitored. Self-esteem and depression were incorporated as covariates in generalised linear model (GLM) and repeated-measures ANOVA analyses. The results showed that although there were no gender differences in behavioural responses, the brain activation (particularly in the right DLPFC) and functional connectivity (particularly inter-hemispheric connectivity) of men showed a preference for negative evaluations, while women showed a preference for positive evaluations. Male students also showed stronger local efficiency (i.e., more segregated processing and synchronised local neural circuitry) when responding to emotional stimuli, whereas females showed more global efficiency (i.e., more integrated, widespread and interconnected whole-brain processing). These findings reveal fundamental gender divergences in neural processing of social-evaluative stimuli, highlighting distinct neurocognitive strategies for emotional regulation and may help tailor teaching communication to support diverse student needs.