Attention to stimulus presentation mode as a function of sex.

Abstract

This study investigated sex differences in attention to verbal stimuli presented in auditory and visual modes. Ss were 996 male and female students, ages 7 through 17, who observed different forms of a sound motion picture film. One control film contained auditory verbal stimuli only, the other control film contained visual verbal stimuli only, and the experimental film contained simultaneous, conflicting auditory and visual verbal stimuli. Attending behavior was quantified as the number of stimulus specific answers on a paper-and-pencil test administered after presentation of the film. Prior results had indicated that experimental Ss under the age of 12 attended auditory stimuli significantly more often, and those over the age of 13 attended visual stimuli significantly more often. The present experiment concerned sex differences in attending behavior during the crossover period: it was found that females switched their preference for auditory stimuli to visual stimuli earlier (age 11.5) than males (age 13.5). The significant differences between sexes (p less than .05) were attributed to differential conditioning of attitudes, reinforcements, and discriminations regarding the stimulus presentation mode, as well as biological factors.