A sex difference in location-based inhibition-of-return

Abstract

The hunter–gatherer theory of spatial sex differences provides an organizing framework for why men (i.e., hunters) are generally superior on spatial tasks related to orienting in space (e.g., map reading, throwing accuracy) while women (i.e., gatherers) are superior on spatial tasks related to objects and their locations. Location-based inhibition-of-return (IOR) has been thought to facilitate foraging by orienting attention towards novel locations compared to recently inspected ones. From the evolutionary perspective of the hunter–gatherer theory, if IOR facilitates successful foraging then women might be expected to exhibit greater location-based IOR than men. Two experiments tested this hypothesis by measuring location-based IOR using 1cpd and 12cpd Gabor targets appearing either left/right (Exp. 1) or above/below (Exp. 2) fixation. Both experiments found evidence of greater IOR for women than men and greater IOR to the higher compared to the lower spatial frequency target. The results are discussed in terms of the hunter–gatherer theory, location- and object-based attention, and recent evidence of magnocellular and parvocellular influences on location-based IOR (Brown & Guenther, 2012).