Space Representation and Gender Differences

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.

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 894-899
Author(s):  
Masanori Wako ◽  
Kensuke Koyama ◽  
Yoshihiro Takayama ◽  
Yoshihito Aikawa ◽  
Hirotaka Haro

eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kayle S Sawyer ◽  
Nasim Maleki ◽  
Trinity Urban ◽  
Ksenija Marinkovic ◽  
Steven Karson ◽  
...  

Men and women may use alcohol to regulate emotions differently, with corresponding differences in neural responses. We explored how the viewing of different types of emotionally salient stimuli impacted brain activity observed through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) from 42 long-term abstinent alcoholic (25 women) and 46 nonalcoholic (24 women) participants. Analyses revealed blunted brain responsivity in alcoholic compared to nonalcoholic groups, as well as gender differences in those activation patterns. Brain activation in alcoholic men (ALCM) was significantly lower than in nonalcoholic men (NCM) in regions including rostral middle and superior frontal cortex, precentral gyrus, and inferior parietal cortex, whereas activation was higher in alcoholic women (ALCW) than in nonalcoholic women (NCW) in superior frontal and supramarginal cortical regions. The reduced brain reactivity of ALCM, and increases for ALCW, highlighted divergent brain regions and gender effects, suggesting possible differences in the underlying basis for development of alcohol use disorders.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Cathelain ◽  
Mercedes Jourdain ◽  
Charlotte Cordonnier ◽  
Sophie Catteau Jonard ◽  
Deborah Sebbane ◽  
...  

Abstract Background - Two recent studies looked at the career choice of residents in obstetrics & gynecology. It seemed useful to us to broaden this questioning to other specialties, by proposing a study to all residents in the same Faculty. The objective of our study was to describe residents career aspirations and possible barriers according to gender.Methods – Declarative cross-sectional survey, using questionnaires sent by email to the specialty residents of the Faculty of Medicine of Lille (France). An analysis by specialty group (i.e. medicine, surgery, obstetrics & gynecology and anesthesia & resuscitation) and a comparison of the results according to gender were performed. Results – Of the 1,384 specialty residents currently in training, 462 answered the questionnaires (33.38%), among whom 289 women and 173 men (average age = 27.08 years +/- 0.091). 17 women (5.9%) were currently considering a university hospital career versus 37 men (21.4%) (p = 0.001). Gender analysis made it possible to identify obstacles to engaging in a university career: lacking female model, more frequent doubting in the ability to lead this type of career among women (61.6%) than men (35.3%) (p <0.001), and gender discrimination felt in the workplace for 51.6% of women (versus 7.5% of men, p <0.001). Subgroup analysis showed specificities related to each specialty. Conclusions – Few residents plan to embark upon a university hospital career, let alone female residents. There are specificities specific to each specialty and marked gender differences regarding career aspirations. Many obstacles have been identified as obstacles to access to university hospital positions for women. It is important to develop strategies to remove these barriers and enable women to pursue such university careers. Trial registration – Not applicable (no intervention)


2009 ◽  
pp. 2644-2654 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Gefen ◽  
Nitza Geri ◽  
Narasimha Paravastu

In the ITC cross-cultural literature, we often talk about the differences among peoples and how their respective culture and history may affect their adoption and preference usage patterns of ITC. However, do we really need to look that far to find such cross-cultural differences? Considering language is one of the major defining attributes of culture, this article takes a sociolinguistic approach to argue that there is also a cross-cultural aspect to ITC adoption within the same culture. Sociolinguists have claimed for years that, to a large extent, the communication between men and women, even within the supposedly same culture, has such characteristics because men and women communicate with different underlying social objectives and so their communication patterns are very different. This article examines this sociolinguistic perspective in the context of online courses. A key finding is that although the stage is set to smother cultural and gender differences if participants wish to do so through ITC, gender based cultural patterns still emerge. These differences were actually strong enough to allow us to significantly identify the gender of the student, despite the gender neutral context of the course discussions. Implications for ITC, in general, in view of this Vive la Différence, are discussed.


2004 ◽  
Vol 32 (Supplement) ◽  
pp. A21
Author(s):  
Katherine Biagas ◽  
Bruna Babic ◽  
Rushmila Hossain ◽  
Susan J Vannucci

Foot & Ankle ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 215-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan K. Grimston ◽  
Benno M. Nigg ◽  
David A. Hanley ◽  
Jack R. Engsberg

The purpose of this study was to determine whether gender- and age-related differences in ankle joint complex (AJC) range of motion (ROM) exist in children (range 9–13 years), adolescents (14–16 years), and young adults (17–20 years), and to compare these data with those published for older subjects (21–79 years) using the same protocol. 15 A total of 120 subjects (58 males and 62 females) ranging in age from 9 to 20 years were tested for AJC ROM using a specifically designed 6° of freedom fixture. 1 All measurements were made with respect to a laboratory coordinate system, and represented assessment of active AJC ROM. Angular displacements for plan-tarflexion, dorsiflexion, inversion, eversion, abduction, and adduction were digitally recorded and compared. AJC ROMs of females aged 9 to 20 years were generally greater than those for males about all three orthogonal axes. Within each gender, there was a consistent trend for AJC ROM to decrease from a maximum at 14 to 16 or 17 to 20 years to a minimum after age 60 years. The average decrement was greater for females than for males. This study provided evidence to support the contention that age-related and gender differences in AJC ROM do exist. The possibility of minimizing the decline in AJC ROM with age requires further investigation.


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