Are Differences Between Men and Women in Rotated Pattern Recognition Due to the Use of Different Cognitive Strategies?

Catherine Brandner,Cédric Devaud

doi:10.5964/ejop.v9i3.610

Catherine Brandner, Cédric Devaud

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v9i3.610

Copy DOI

Journal: Europe’s Journal of Psychology	Publication Date: Aug 30, 2013
Citations: 14	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: University of Lausanne

Abstract

A recursive hypothesis suggests that gender differences in spatial abilities, including mental rotation tasks, are the result of differences in the strategies that men and women use to process information. To address this issue, we systematically explored men and women’s performance for rotated patterns by assessing recognition, confidence rating and response time, thought to be fundamental to spatial processing, with classical methods, and with signal detection theory (SDT) parameters (d-prime and c-bias). Among our findings, we highlight d-prime as the most robust parameter to assess gender differences and predict group membership. Furthermore, we conclude that better performance by men is due to their strategy of transforming a mental rotation task into a simpler task comparing the alignment of test stimuli to the surrounding experimental environment.

Highlights

Many European countries report a low number of people over 55 who still work; Belgium is a good example, with barely 35% of workers from this age group in 2009 (Eurostat, 2010)
While the normal state pension age in Belgium is 65, the federal government has awarded early retirement at the age of 55 years under certain conditions. This early retirement is a system for employees over 55 years old who are laid off: they are entitled to unemployment benefits and an additional compensation charge from their former employer, while having the status of "bridging pensioner"; it is not uncommon that taking his/her early retirement is, from a financial point of view, very attractive for the worker
From the 70s, the use of this mechanism has become common in Belgium: it has been seen as a way for struggling businesses to reduce their workforce without significant social conflict by offering an elegant way to older workers to leave their company and the labour market

Summary

Introduction

Many European countries report a low number of people over 55 who still work; Belgium is a good example, with barely 35% of workers from this age group in 2009 (Eurostat, 2010). While the normal state pension age in Belgium is 65, the federal government has awarded early retirement at the age of 55 years under certain conditions (company in financial difficulty, significant restructuring plan, hard labour, disabled workers or with seriously physical problems). From the 70s, the use of this mechanism has become common in Belgium: it has been seen as a way for struggling businesses to reduce their workforce without significant social conflict by offering an elegant way to older workers to leave their company and the labour market This strategy has been seen for many years as a win-win strategy for business leaders, labour unions, and workers; so much so that Elchardus’ and Cohen’s (2003) Belgian survey showed that, for many workers, early retirement has become an entitlement. The Belgian company Securex (2010) estimates that if we want to avoid disaster, we would require that employment rate for workers aged 55 and older back up to 60% by 2030

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion