Differences In Visuospatial Abilities Research Articles

Gender Differences in Visuospatial Abilities and Complex Mathematical Problem Solving.

Mathematical problem-solving and spatial visualization are areas in which performance has been shown to vary with sex. This article describes the impact of gender on spatial relations measured in 331 secondary school students (202 males, 129 females), 145 (105 males, 40 females) of whom had been selected to participate in a mathematical talent stimulation project after passing a complex problem-solving test. In the two tests administered, the Differential Aptitude Tests-Space Relations (DAT-SR) and the Primary Mental Abilities-Space Relations (PMA-SR), performance was assessed on the grounds of both absolute scores and the ratio to the number of items answered. The students participating in the talent program earned higher scores on both tests, although no interaction was identified between mathematical abilities and gender in connection with the differences in spatial habilities observed. In PMA-SR, boys answered more items and scored higher, whereas in DAT-SR girls tended to omit more items. None of the indicators studied exhibited differences between the sexes in both tests and in some cases the differences in the absolute values of the indicators were absent when expressed as ratios.

Looking behind the score: Skill structure explains sex differences in skilled video game performance.

Some have explained large sex differences in visuospatial abilities by genetic adaptations to different roles in primitive hunter-gatherer societies and the interaction of innate biological differences and environmental factors. We explored the extent to which variations in behavior and acquired skills can provide alternative accounts for sex differences in the performance of a complex spatially-demanding video game (Space Fortress). Men and women with limited video game experience were given 30 hours of training, and latent curve analyses examined the development of their ship control performance and behavior. Men had significantly better control performance than women before and after training, but differences diminished substantially over the training period. An analysis of participants’ joystick behaviors revealed that initially men and women relied on different patterns of control behaviors, but changes in these behaviors over time accounted for the reduced sex differences in performance. When we controlled for these differences in behavior, sex effects after training were no longer significant. Finally, examining the development of control performance and control behaviors of men and women categorized as initially high and low performers revealed the lower-performing women may have been controlling their ship using an approach that was very different from the men and higher-performing women. The potential problems of analyzing men and women’s spatial performance as homogenous groups are discussed, as well as how these issues may account for sex differences in skilled video game performance and perhaps other domains involving spatial abilities.

The Role of Visuospatial Ability in the Raven’s Progressive Matrices

Abstract. Debate surrounding the role of visuospatial ability in performance on the Raven’s Progressive Matrices (RPM) has existed since their conception. This issue has yet to be adequately resolved, and may have implications regarding sex differences in scores. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the relationship between RPM performance, visuospatial ability and fluid ability, and any sex differences in these relationships. Data were obtained from three samples: two University samples completed the Advanced RPM and one population-based sample of men completed the Standard RPM. All samples additionally completed an alternative measure of fluid ability, and one or more measures of visuospatial ability. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationships between performance on the visuospatial and fluid ability tests and performance on the RPM. Visuospatial ability was found to significantly contribute to performance on the RPM, over and above fluid ability, supporting the contention that visuospatial ability is involved in RPM performance. No sex differences were found in this relationship, although sex differences in visuospatial ability may explain sex differences in RPM scores.

Sex differences in visuospatial and navigational working memory: the role of mood induced by background music.

Sex differences in visuospatial abilities are long debated. Men generally outperform women, especially in wayfinding or learning a route or a sequence of places. These differences might depend on women's disadvantage in underlying spatial competences, such as mental rotation, and on the strategies used, as well as on emotions and on self-belief about navigational skills, not related to actual skill-levels. In the present study, sex differences in visuospatial and navigational working memory in emotional contexts were investigated. Participants' mood was manipulated by background music (positive, negative or neutral) while performing on the Corsi Block-tapping Task (CBT) and Walking Corsi (WalCT) test. In order to assess the effectiveness of mood manipulation, participants filled in the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule before and after carrying out the visuospatial tasks. Firstly, results showed that after mood induction, only the positive affect changed, whereas the negative affect remained unconfounded by mood and by sex. This finding is in line with the main effect of 'group' on all tests used: the positive music group scored significantly higher than other groups. Secondly, although men outperformed women in the CBT forward condition and in the WalCT forward and backward conditions, they scored higher than women only in the WalCT with the negative background music. This means that mood cannot fully explain sex differences in visuospatial and navigational working memory. Our results suggest that sex differences in the CBT and WalCT can be better explained by differences in spatial competences rather than by emotional contexts.

Sex differences in visuospatial abilities persist during induced hypogonadism

Sex differences in visuospatial abilities persist during induced hypogonadism

Sex differences in visuospatial abilities persist during induced hypogonadism

BackgroundDespite well-established sex differences in the performance on tests of several cognitive domains (e.g., visuospatial ability), few studies in humans have evaluated if these sex differences are evident both in the presence of circulating sex hormones and during sex steroid hormonal suppression. Sex differences identified in the relative absence of circulating levels of estradiol and testosterone suggest that differences in brain structure or function exist independent of current hormonal environment and are more likely a reflection of differing developmental exposures and/or genetic substrates. ObjectiveTo evaluate cognitive performance in healthy eugonadal men and women before and again during GnRH agonist-induced hypogonadism. MethodsMen (n=16) and women (n=15) without medical or psychiatric illness were matched for IQ. Cognitive tests were performed at baseline (when eugonadal) and after 6–8 weeks of GnRH agonist-induced gonadal suppression. The test batteries included measures of verbal and spatial memory, spatial ability, verbal fluency, motor speed/dexterity, and attention/concentration. Data were analyzed using repeated-measures models. ResultsDuring both eugonadism and hypogonadism, men performed significantly better than women on several measures of visuospatial performance including mental rotation, line orientation, Money Road Map, Porteus maze, and complex figure drawing. Although some test performances showed an effect of hormone treatment, the majority of these differences reflected an improved performance during hypogonadism compared with baseline (and probably reflected practice effects). ConclusionThe well-documented male advantage in visuospatial performance, which we observed during eugonadal conditions, was maintained in the context of short-term suppression of gonadal function in both men and women. These findings suggest that, in humans, sex differences in visuospatial performance are not merely dependent on differences in the current circulating sex steroid environment. Thus sex differences in visuospatial performance in adulthood could reflect early developmental effects of sex steroid exposure or other environmental exposures differing across the sexes as our data confirm that these differences are independent of circulating estradiol or testosterone levels in men and women.

Differences in Final Product of a Bowel Anastomosis of Male and Female Novice Surgeons

There is a disproportionate ratio of male to female surgeons when compared with the ratio at medical school. Although gender differences in surgical technical ability is not known, studies have shown gender differences in visuospatial ability and manual dexterity. We devised a study to assess objectively the quality of final product of small bowel anastomosis in male and female novice surgeons to explore differences in surgical technical ability. Thirty-six novice surgeons in the final year of medical school with minimal surgical experience were taught surgical knot tying and small bowel suturing. The students were asked to complete 7 small bowel anastomosis in 7 separate sessions. The quality of the final product was assessed looking at the "fine details" (number of sutures and accuracy, ie, ratio of sutures piercing the full thickness of the bowel) and the "gross apposition" of the bowel ends at the anastomotic site. A grading system for apposition was devised to assess apposition. The results with fine details and accuracy of suturing revealed that female surgeons were significantly better in the fourth to the sixth sessions with no gender difference in the number of sutures placed. With gross apposition at the anastomotic ends, male surgeons were consistently better between the third to the sixth session. However, these differences were eliminated with training. Known gender differences in visuospatial ability and manual dexterity may explain the initial gender differences in the quality of the final product. However, these differences were not present by the end of the training sessions. Therefore, with training, no difference in surgical technical ability was found between male and female novice surgeons.

Differences in Spatial Working Memory as a Function of Team Sports Expertise: The Corsi Block-Tapping Task in Sport Psychological Assessment

Individual differences in visuospatial abilities were investigated in experienced basketball players compared with nonathletes. Most research shows that experts and novices do not differ on basic cognitive ability tests. Nevertheless, there are some equivocal findings indicating there are differences in basic cognitive abilities such as attention. The goal of the present research was to investigate team-ball athletes in regard to their visuospatial abilities. 112 male college students (54 basketball players, 58 nonathlete college students) were tested in their spatial capacity with the Corsi Block-tapping Task. No differences in spatial capacity were evident between basketball players and nonathlete college students. The results are discussed in the context of the expert performance approach and individual difference research.

Disturbed sexual dimorphism of brain activation during mental rotation in schizophrenia

BackgroundSex differences in visuo-spatial abilities have been well documented in the general population, but there are only a few inconsistent reports in schizophrenia. The purpose of the present study was to examine potential sex differences in performance and pattern of brain activations during mental rotation in schizophrenia patients relative to control participants. MethodsThirty three schizophrenia patients (17 women and 16 men) were compared to thirty five healthy control participants (17 women and 18 men), while performing a classic mental rotation task (3-D figures). Blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) echo-planar images were acquired on a 3-Tesla Siemens TRIO system. Random-effect analyses were performed using SPM5 (UK Wellcome Institute). ResultsBehavioural data revealed a diagnosis-by-sex interaction with healthy men (HM) performing significantly better than schizophrenia men (SZ-M) and no significant difference between healthy women (HW) and schizophrenia women (SZ-W). fMRI results revealed an overall similar pattern of extensive cerebral activations (in the parietal and lateral prefrontal cortex) and deactivations (in the medial prefrontal cortex) in HM and SZ-W during performance of the mental rotation versus control task. In contrast, both HW and SZ-M showed much more restricted activations and no significant deactivations. ConclusionsSex differences in performance and cerebral activations during mental rotation in schizophrenia patients deviated significantly from what we observed in healthy volunteers. This finding supports and extends existing evidence of a disturbed sexual dimorphism in schizophrenia. Moreover, the results emphasize the importance of including both sexes in neurocognitive and neuroimaging studies of schizophrenia.

Visuo-spatial ability and wayfinding performance in real-world

In literature, there are not many studies which have investigated the relation between visuo-spatial ability and wayfinding in real world. In general, these works could be classified into two types: self-assessment studies, in which researchers ask people about their wayfinding ability, their type of navigation strategies or their daily spatial behaviour, in particular their awareness of orientation and their memory for usual spatial behaviour (e.g. Kato and Takeuchi 2003, Prestopnik and Roskos-Ewoldsen 2000); and behavioural studies, in which researchers ask a person to solve visuo-spatial tasks and perform wayfinding tasks. Our work uses this type of investigation method. The few studies presented in literature have shown mixed results. For example, Rovine and Weisman (1989) examined the relation between visuo-spatial ability, measured by spatial relation test and embedded figure test and wayfinding. They did not find any correlation between spatial relation test and wayfinding performance while embedded figure test scores were significantly correlated to wayfinding measures. To date, Blajenkova et al. (2005) have showed that individual differences in visuo-spatial ability, measured by a mental rotation test, resulted in differences in wayfinding performance. In general, there is little agreement in literature on the role plays from visuo-spatial ability to improve wayfinding performance. From our point of view, these results are biased by considering the visuo-spatial ability as a unique instead of a multi-component ability (Giusberti and Nori 1999). In particular, experiments that investigated spatial ability are concentrated on the study of a specific spatial aspect, that is the ability to use simultaneous spatial information. On the contrary, spatial memory is not an unitary but a multi-component system and it includes a wide range of abilities: visual, sequential and simultaneous. The importance of looking at specific subcomponents of spatial memory is supported by the visuo-spatial working memory, which is the cognitive system involved during the resolution of visuo-spatial tasks, proposed by Logie (1995). Fenner et al. (2000) have overcome this problem using six different tasks that are able to measure the different aspects of visuo-spatial ability. In their research, the authors examined the effect of visuo-spatial ability on wayfinding performance in young (5–6 years) and old (9–10 year) children. Results revealed that young children with high visuo-spatial ability (HV-SA) exhibited superior wayfinding compared to low visuospatial ability (LV-SA) children. This effect was not present in old children. In spite of these results, the aim of our work was to examine which may be the influence of visuo-spatial ability, considered as a multi-component ability, on wayfinding performance. Particularly, we predict that: HV-SA participants perform the wayfinding better and faster than LV-SA participants who should hesitate more than high visuo-spatial ability participants, during R. Nori (&) AE S. Grandicelli AE F. Giusberti Dipartimento di Psicologia, Universita di Bologna, Bologna, Italy e-mail: raffaella.nori@unibo.it Cogn Process (2006) 7 (Suppl. 1):S135–S137 DOI 10.1007/s10339-006-0104-4

The Cambridge handbook of visuospatial thinking

1. Functional significance of visuospatial representations Barbara Tversky 2. Visuospatial images Daniel Reisberg and Friderike Heuer 3. Disorders of visuospatial working memory Robert Logie and Sergio Della Sala 4. Individual differences in spatial abilities Mary Hegarty and David Waller 5. Sex differences in visuospatial abilities: more than meets the eye Diane F. Halpern and Marcia L. Collear 6. Development of spatial competence Nora S. Newcombe and Amy E. Learmonth 7. Navigation Daniel R. Montello 8. Mapping the understanding of understanding maps Holly A. Taylor 9. Spatial situation models Mike Rinck 10. Design applications of visual spatial thinking: the importance of frame of reference Christopher D. Wickens, Michele Vincow and Michele Yeh 11. The presentation and comprehension of graphically-presented data Priti Shah, Eric G. Freedman and Ioanna Vekiri 12. Multimedia learning: guiding visuospatial thinking with instructional animation Richard E. Mayer.

Visuospatial Abilities Correlate With Performance of Senior Endoscopy Specialist in Simulated Colonoscopy

Visuospatial abilities have been demonstrated to predict the performance of medical students in simulated endoscopy. However, little has been reported whether differences in visuospatial abilities influence the performance of senior endoscopists or whether their vast endoscopy experience reduces the importance of these abilities. Eleven senior endoscopists were included in our study. Before the simulated endoscopies in GI Mentor II (gastroscopy: case 3, module 1 and colonoscopy: case 3, module 1), the endoscopists performed three visuospatial tests: (1) pictorial surface orientation (PicSOr), (2) card rotation, and (3) cube comparison tests that monitor the ability of the tested person to re-create a three-dimensional image from a two-dimensional presentation as well as mentally manipulate that re-created image. The results of the visuospatial tests were correlated to the performance parameters of the virtual-reality endoscopy simulator. The percent of time spent with clear view in the simulated colonoscopy correlated well with the performance in the visuospatial PicSOr (r = -0.75, P = 0.01), card rotation (r = 0.75, P = 0.01), and cube comparison (r = 0.79, P = 0.004) tests. The endoscopists who performed better in the visuospatial tests also were better at maintaining visualization of the colon lumen. Those who performed better in the PicSOr test formed fewer loops during colonoscopy (r = 0.60, P = 0.05). In the technically less demanding simulated gastroscopy, there were no such correlations. The visuospatial tests performed better in endoscopists not playing computer games. Good visuospatial ability correlates significantly with the performance of experienced endoscopists in a technically demanding simulated colonoscopy, but not in the less demanding simulated gastroscopy.

Laterality and visuo-spatial ability in the equine: Functional measures of sport horse selection?

AbstractLaterality in any organism or species can be manifest as morphological, sensory and functional degrees of asymmetry such as hemispheric dominance, handedness or sidedness and other motor functional behaviours and as such is equally important in equitation. The influence of the horses’ sex on both the direction and the degree of the laterality was explored within and between 4 experimental procedures in the 1st study. The findings showed that the direction, but not the degree of idiosyncratic motor preference in the horses was strongly sex-related. Male horses exhibited significantly more left lateralized responses and female horses exhibited significantly more right lateralized responses. Visuo-spatial ability is also likely to be important in the performance horse. In many species, moderate to large differences in visuo-spatial ability have been reported between the sexes, with superior visuo-spatial ability being reported in males of all species investigated to date. As no known studies had addressed visuo-spatial ability in the equine, the objective of the 2nd study, was to determine if visuo-spatial ability differed between male and female horses. The results produced the first behavioural demonstration of superior visuo-spatial ability in male horses, similar to that reported in other species. There is evidence to suggest that visuospatial ability and motor laterality are associated with cerebral hemispheric asymmetry and may be intrinsically linked. Brain development and laterality have also been associated with hair patterning, and, in a 3rd study we attempted to identify predictors of lateral bias in motor behaviour in horses. We investigated the relationship between the direction of facial hair whorl rotation and the incidence/direction of laterality in the horse. The findings suggest that direction of facial hair whorl rotation may be a useful indicator of lateralised motor behavioural preferences in the horse. We then attempted to establish if laterality was evident at birth in a 4th study, where we explored if neonatal foals exhibited lateralised patterns during and immediately post the birthing process that were correlated with their facial hair whorl patterns. The results showed a significant association between the sex of the foal and the choice of foreleg presented initially during 2nd stage parturition. Significantly more colt foals led with the left foreleg and significantly more filly foals led with the right foreleg than expected purely by random and the behaviour was correlated with facial hair whorl patterns. The findings also suggest that lateralisation in the horse is determined in utero as has also been shown in humans. Comparisons of wholly intact male and female horses are warranted as they might elucidate additional linkages between motor behaviour, visuo-spatial ability and brain organisation and development in the horse. Further research in this area could lead to more appropriate competition conditions (better fence design/construction on cross-country tracks) and so eliminate unnecessary levels of risk associated with many equestrian sports.

SEX DIFFERENCES IN SPATIAL VISUALIZATION AND EPISODIC MEMORY AS A FUNCTION OF ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION

Sex differences in visuospatial ability as well as episodic memory have been reliably demonstrated, irrespective of alcoholism. Studies in alcoholics have consistently documented cognitive deficits in visuospatial ability, problem solving and memory function. This cross-sectional, population-based study examined if sex differences in cognitive performance could be impacted by alcohol consumption. Drinking data were collected from 2224 randomly sampled adults, aged between 35 and 85 years, who participated in the Betula study on memory, health and aging. Participants were classified into non-, light, moderate and heavy drinking subgroups based on sex-adjusted normative values. Cognitive tasks demonstrating clear sex differences, such as episodic memory tasks (favouring women) and spatial visualization tasks (favouring men), were conducted and performance was assessed by sex and the drinking group. After controlling for age and education, overall analyses found expected sex differences in episodic memory and spatial visualization that were apparent across the entire population. When these sex differences were examined by drinking group, visuospatial performance favouring men disappeared for the moderate to heavy drinking groups, but higher performance by women on episodic memory tasks was consistent across all levels of alcohol consumption. Traditional biomarkers of increased alcohol consumption (GGT and MCV) correlated with the reported drinks/day. These results lend support to the theory that moderate alcohol intake may be beneficial to cognitive function in women, but not necessarily in men.

Gender effects in spatial orientation: cognitive profiles and mental strategies

Experimental evidence and meta-analyses offer some support for gender-related differences in visuo-spatial ability. However, few studies addressed this issue in an ecological context and/or in everyday tasks implying spatial abilities, such as geographical orientation. Moreover, the relation of specific strategies and gender is still unclear. In the present investigation, we compared men and women in a newly designed battery of spatial orientation tasks in which landmark, route and survey knowledge were considered. In addition, four visuo-spatial working memory (VSWM) tasks were presented. Significant differences favouring men in VSWM tasks were reported, supporting existing evidence. However, men and women did not significantly differ in orientation tasks performance. The patterns of correlation between working memory and spatial orientation tasks indicated that men and women used somewhat different strategies in carrying out the orientation tasks. In particular, active processes seem to play a greater role in females' performance, thus confirming the importance of this variable in interpreting gender effect in VSWM tasks. Altogether, results indicate that gender effects could well result from differences in cognitive strategies and support data indicating that adequate training could reduce or eliminate them. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Discrepancy Between Mental Rotation and Perspective-Taking Abilities in Normal Aging Assessed by Piaget's Three-Mountain Task

In a cross-sectional study, we examined age-related differences in visuo-spatial ability associated with image rotation, using two variants of Piaget's ‘Three-Mountain Task.’ The object-mental rotation (OMR) task detects the ability to mentally rotate an image, whereas the subject-mental rotation (SMR) task reveals the ability to mentally change one's perspective. A group of 33 young adults, 26 middle-aged adults, and 31 elderly normal adults were studied. Both tasks revealed age-related differences in performance but a larger difference between middle-aged and elderly group was observed for SMR than OMR performance. Age-related increases in the ‘egocentric’ type of error were found only on the SMR task. The results suggest that the ability to mentally change one's perspective declines with age, perhaps more than the ability to mentally rotate objects.

Passive Storage and Active Manipulation in Visuo-spatial Working Memory: Further Evidence From the Study of Age Differences

Recent theoretical accounts of working memory proposed a distinction between passive storage and active processing of visuo-spatial information. These hypotheses are based on empirical evidence showing that individual differences in visuo-spatial abilities are frequently modulated by this variable. However, results from age differences studies are not clear, and this research was designed to specifically investigate the level of competence of elderly people in tasks measuring visuo-spatial working memory and, in particular, passive and active components of the system. Three groups of participants (mean ages were approximately 22, 66, and 76) were tested in eight cognitive tasks tapping passive storage and active manipulation in various aspects of visuo-spatial and verbal processing. Results showed that elderly people are selectively impaired in active tasks, and these tasks were also more sensitive in detecting differences within the older group. These data highlight the need for theoretical models of working memory that take into account this distinction while defining the architecture of the system.

Gender differences in visuo-spatial processing: The importance of distinguishing between passive storage and active manipulation

The study here reported investigates the hypothesis that gender differences in visuo-spatial abilities are mainly confined to active processing tasks. Male and female participants were required to perform passive tasks involving the recall of previously memorised positions within matrices of different sizes, as well as active tasks in which they had to mentally follow a pathway in the same matrices. The results confirmed that male superiority became evident as the active processing requirements increased while only marginal gender difference was reported in passive tasks. To strengthen the specific role of the active–passive distinction in identifying gender differences, confounding factors such as type of material and use of verbal strategies were ruled out. These findings, in line with a number of studies on individual differences, highlight the importance of addressing visuo-spatial ability as a multicomponential cognitive function which entails different type of visuo-spatial processing or mechanisms (i.e., active processing and passive storage of information) rather than as a unitary concept. PsycINFO classification: 2340

Activation/organization, masculinization/feminization: What are they and how are they distinguished?

The activational and organizational hormone effects as originally defined do not conflict with activational influences on brain structure. Ovarian hormonal influences on the rodent corpus callosum could be activational rather than organizational. The masculinization/feminization distinction in brain structure and the timing of sex differences in visuo-spatial abilities need to be clarified.

Are boys better than girls at building a tower or a bridge at 2 years of age?

This study was designed to look at the differences in visuospatial abilities between boys and girls before they can speak fluently. At the mandatory two year follow up visit, children...