Investigating sex differences, cognitive effort, strategy, and performance on a computerised version of the mental rotations test via eye tracking

Adam J Toth,Mark J Campbell

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-56041-6

Abstract

Mental rotation tests (MRTs) have previously shown one of the most prominent sex differences in cognitive psychology, marked by a large male performance advantage. However, debate continues over the reasons for these sex differences. Previously, we used pupillometry to demonstrate sex differences in the cognitive effort invoked during the original MRT. Here, we evaluated the magnitude of sex differences during performance on a computerized version of the Vandenberg and Kuse MRT. Secondly, we examined whether fixation metrics could illuminate strategy use by participants. Finally, we used pupillometry to investigate whether cognitive effort differed between sexes and trials of different difficulty. While our results demonstrate no performance differences between sexes on the computerized MRT, fixation patterns provided evidence that gaze strategy was associated with performance on different parts of the test. Moreover, we show the cognitive demand of the V&K MRT, evidenced by large task dependent increases in participants’ pupil diameters.

Highlights

Mental rotation tests (MRTs) have previously shown one of the most prominent sex differences in cognitive psychology, marked by a large male performance advantage
Post hoc comparisons revealed that both male (p < 0.001, η2 = 0.584) and female (p < 0.001, η2 = 0.392) participants scored significantly higher on Mirror compared to Structural foil trials and that female participants scored significantly higher than males on the Structural (p = 0.001, η2 = 0.168), but not Mirror (p = 0.911, η2 = 0.000), foil trials
A significant main effect of Foil Type was found for Time to Completion (TTC) data (F(1,68) = 9.256, p = 0.003, η2 = 0.123) with participants taking approximately 17.283 s longer on average to complete mirror compared to structural foil trials on the MRT

Summary

Introduction

Mental rotation tests (MRTs) have previously shown one of the most prominent sex differences in cognitive psychology, marked by a large male performance advantage. Tests of mental rotation have previously shown one of the most prominent sex differences in cognitive psychology, marked by a large male performance advantage[8,9]. By including test stimuli that varied in their degree of rotation from the standard image, the original MRT shows that reaction times increase and accuracy degrades as the degree of rotation increases between the two stimuli. Another version of the MRT was developed by Vandenburg and Kuse[11]. Examining fixation durations and fixation counts on the V&K MRT may yield insights into the adoption of a new strategy or a previously described strategy among participants when performing the V&K test of mental rotation

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Discussion

Conclusion