The Science Museum in London is facing criticism for a “junk science” exhibit that asks visitors to test whether they have a blue or pink brain.

The interactive exhibit presents a series of questions that claim to measure whether a person’s brain is more typically male or female.

Neuroscientists said the suggestion that the brains of men and women are fundamentally different was based on unhelpful gender stereotypes rather than sound science.

Prof Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, an expert on the teenage brain at University College London who has been advising the Science Museum, said the exhibit in its current form was “out of date, to say the least”.

She added: “I saw it recently and was pretty shocked by the misleading message, which doesn’t correspond to the scientific evidence.”

Prof Gina Rippon, of the University of Aston, said: “The stereotyped view of a ‘hard-wired’ link between sex and gender is wrong and potentially harmful as it implies that this is somehow the ‘natural order of things’.”

Campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez, told the Guardian: “The idea of women’s and men’s brains having fundamental differences has long been used to justify paying women less and treating them as second-class citizens. The science of sex differences is complicated and contested, but it certainly can’t be boiled down to pink and blue brains. I’m disappointed to see the Science Museum endorse junk science.”

Initially couldn't believe this. But yes, the @sciencemuseum has an exhibition telling girls they have "pink brains" pic.twitter.com/pGHEI9T3V7 — Helen Lewis (@helenlewis) September 14, 2016

Prof Joe Devlin, a neuroscientist at University College London, said there were well-established differences between the male and female brain, such as hormone levels, and that the male brain was on average larger, in line with body size. But it is not clear how these differences translate, if at all, to differences in cognition.

“That’s where things get really shady,” he said. “I’m worried about that stuff and I’m not sure there’s a good basis for any differences in cognition. The stuff about men being better at spatial things and women being better at language, that just seems like nonsense.”

Rippon agreed: “There are, of course, differences between the brains of men and the brains of women related to reproductive processes. But with respect to the structures and functions of the brain which are related to cognitive processes there really are none.”

Rippon said that a recent paper suggested that rather than slotting neatly into a male or female model, brains can be thought of as a mosaic of male and female characteristics. “In this study, fewer than 6% of the 1,400 brains examined could be described as predominantly male or female,” she added.

Other research shows that the brain is very “plastic” and can change in response to life events and experiences, making it even more difficult to answer the question of whether the male and female brain is fundamentally different.

The test, which features in the Who Am I? exhibition, involves a series of questions where the visitor has to match an image or shape at the top to one of three squares below – for instance, selecting which one of three fruit-filled squares does not contain a strawberry and cherry.

At the end, the results are given with an explainer that “women are generally good at distinguishing between subtle hints and details” while “men are good at seeing things in three dimensions”.

Alex Tyrrell, head of exhibitions and programmes at the Science Museum, said: “Although Who am I? was refreshed six years ago, this particular interactive – which was designed to be tongue-in-cheek – dates from the original gallery 16 years ago. At the time Who am I? opened, multiple experts and our collaborators felt the exhibition content was a fair and responsible representation of the latest scientific research about human identity, including questions of sex and gender.”

• Take the test here