Computer experience and gender differences in undergraduate mental rotation performance

1996 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard De Lisi ◽  
Diane M. Cammarano

Scientific literature highlighted gender differences in spatial orientation. In particular, men and women differ in terms of the navigational processes they use in daily life. Scientific literature highlighted that women use analytical strategies while men tend to use holistic strategies. According to classical studies, males show a net advantage at least in the two categories of mental rotation and spatial perception. Subsequently, brain-imaging studies have shown a difference between males and females in the activity of brain regions involved in spatial cognition tasks. What we can say with certainty is that, given the complex nature of the subprocesses involved in what we call spatial cognition, the gender differences recorded by numerous scientific studies conducted in this field are closely related to specific measured abilities. The evidence that emerges with certainty from diverse studies is, however, that of a huge variety of strategies that differ according to sex, context, purpose to reach, education, age, and profession. In the study presented here, the gender and age-related tests show a significant sex-based difference perspective-taking tasks, but there is no gender-based difference in the mental rotation task.


2016 ◽  
Vol 69 (8) ◽  
pp. 1530-1544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randi A. Doyle ◽  
Daniel Voyer ◽  
Maryani Lesmana

1993 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Uecker ◽  
J.E. Obrzut

2008 ◽  
Vol 189 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peka S. Christova ◽  
Scott M. Lewis ◽  
Georgios A. Tagaris ◽  
Kâmil Uğurbil ◽  
Apostolos P. Georgopoulos

2000 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 147-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Grann

Summary: Hare's Psychopathy Checklist - Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 1991 ) was originally constructed for use among males in correctional and forensic settings. In this study, the PCL-R protocols of 36 matched pairs of female and male violent offenders were examined with respect to gender differences. The results indicated a few significant differences. By means of discriminant analysis, male Ss were distinguished from their female counterparts through their relatively higher scores on “callous/lack of empathy” (item 8) and “juvenile delinquency” (item 18), whereas the female Ss scored relatively higher on “promiscuous sexual behavior” (item 11). Some sources of bias and possible implications are discussed.


Author(s):  
Tereza Soukupova ◽  
Petr Goldmann

Abstract. The Thematic Apperception Test is one of the most frequently administered apperceptive techniques. Formal scoring systems are helpful in evaluating story responses. TAT stories, made by 20 males and 20 females in the situation of legal divorce proceedings, were coded for detection and comparison of their personal problem solving ability. The evaluating instrument utilized was the Personal Problem Solving System-Revised (PPSS-R) as developed by G. F. Ronan. The results indicate that in relation to card 1, men more often than women saw the cause of the problem as removable. With card 6GF, women were more motivated to resolve the given problem than were men, women had a higher personal control and their stories contained more optimism compared to men’s stories. In relation to card 6BM women, more often than men, used emotions generated from the problem to orient themselves within the problem. With card 13MF, the men’s level of stress was less compared to that of the women, and men were more able to plan within the context of problem-solving. Significant differences in the examined groups were found in those cards which depicted significant gender and parental potentials. The TAT can be used to help identify personality characteristics and gender differences.


2008 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 130-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corinna Titze ◽  
Martin Heil ◽  
Petra Jansen

Gender differences are one of the main topics in mental rotation research. This paper focuses on the influence of the performance factor task complexity by using two versions of the Mental Rotations Test (MRT). Some 300 participants completed the test without time constraints, either in the regular version or with a complexity reducing template creating successive two-alternative forced-choice tasks. Results showed that the complexity manipulation did not affect the gender differences at all. These results were supported by a sufficient power to detect medium effects. Although performance factors seem to play a role in solving mental rotation problems, we conclude that the variation of task complexity as realized in the present study did not.


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