Gender Differences In Spatial Abilities Research Articles

Examining the Interplay between the Cognitive and Emotional Aspects of Gender Differences in Spatial Processing.

Women reliably perform worse than men on measures of spatial ability, particularly those involving mental rotation. At the same time, females also report higher levels of spatial anxiety than males. What remains unclear, however, is whether and in what ways gender differences in these cognitive and affective aspects of spatial processing may be interrelated. Here, we tested for robust gender differences across six different datasets in spatial ability and spatial anxiety (N = 1257, 830 females). Further, we tested for bidirectional mediation effects. We identified indirect relations between gender and spatial skills through spatial anxiety, as well as between gender and spatial anxiety through spatial skills. In the gender → spatial anxiety → spatial ability direction, spatial anxiety explained an average of 22.4% of gender differences in spatial ability. In the gender → spatial ability → spatial anxiety direction, spatial ability explained an average of 25.9% of gender differences in spatial anxiety. Broadly, these results support a strong relation between cognitive and affective factors when explaining gender differences in the spatial domain. However, the nature of this relation may be more complex than has been assumed in previous literature. On a practical level, the results of this study caution the development of interventions to address gender differences in spatial processing which focus primarily on either spatial anxiety or spatial ability until such further research can be conducted. Our results also speak to the need for future longitudinal work to determine the precise mechanisms linking cognitive and affective factors in spatial processing.

How to Explain the Rationale of Putting Research into Practice? A Book Review on Visual-Spatial Ability in STEM Education Transforming Research into Practice

The book is crucial for exposing educational settings to research academics since it is visually appealing. It explains how spatial ability is tested and improved and explores the research procedures and skills utilized in educational settings. It concentrates on the problematic meta-analytic review and addresses two distinct cross-questions, including how large gender disparities in spatial ability are and where gender differences in spatial ability are first observed. The book purposefully covers a wide range of viewpoints, including those from cognitive psychology, educational psychology, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, computer science and information technology. It also addresses human growth. This book gives ideas about the early life span of visuospatial working memory development, along with the impact. As a reader, I found that these abilities have on academic learning with a biological explanation for the observed gender differences that seems to be a contribution to brain development that was shared through the book by the author for readers.

Persistent gender differences in spatial ability, even in STEM experts

BackgroundSpatial ability (SA) shows wide variability. One proposed explanation for the observed individual difference in SA is variability in interest and engagement in activities that promote spatial ability. Research also robustly shown that males on average outperform females in most aspects of SA. Previous studies have identified a number of activities that can potentially contribute to both individual and gender differences in SA, including tinkering with electronics, particular sports activities, and designing. However, the findings regarding these links are inconsistent. One way to investigate these links is to compare the groups that are intensively engaged with these activities. AimThe present study aims to evaluate the robustness of these links by comparing SA in adolescents with expertise in STEM, arts, and sports, with their unselected peers. We also aimed to assess whether gender differences in SA are still present in expert groups. MethodsThe data on ten small-scale SA tests was collected in an unselected sample of adolescents (N = 864, Mean age = 15.4, SD = 1.1); as well as in 3 samples of adolescents with expertise in STEM (N = 667, Mean age = 15, SD = 1.2); in Arts (N = 280, Mean age = 15, SD = 1.2) and in Sports (N = 444, Mean age = 14.3, SD = 0.7). ResultsOut of the three expert groups, only STEM experts on average outperformed the unselected group on all SA tasks. The STEM experts also outperformed Arts and Sports experts. Gender differences persisted in all expert groups, with moderate effect sizes. DiscussionFindings support previously established links between spatial ability and STEM-related expertise. In contrast, such links were not found for expertise in arts and sports. Consistent with previous research, we found gender differences in SA for all samples, which persisted in STEM experts.

Gender Differences in Spatial Ability: a Critical Review

Gender Differences in Spatial Ability: a Critical Review

The inhibition of mirror generalization of letters in school-aged children.

Gender differences in spatial abilities favor males in both childhood and adulthood. During early development, this discrepancy can be attributed, among other things, to the influence of an early testosterone surge in boys, societal stereotypes, and expectations about gender. In the present work, we created a spatial task (including letter rotation and letter mirroring) which used letters as stimuli and evaluated the performance of school-aged children (6-10 years old). During this age period, children are being taught literacy skills which rely on the reorganization of cortical networks and the breakdown of mirror generalization. We divided our sample (N = 142, 73 females) into two age groups: 1st-2nd (literacy acquisition; N = 70, 33 females) and 3rd-5th (literacy consolidation; N = 72, 40 females) graders. While boys performed significantly better in letter rotation in the older group, girls' performance remained substandard in both groups. This pattern is reversed for the mirror task, with older girls outperforming their younger counterparts and boys having similar performance in the two groups. Since the age period of our sample is not associated with large variations in the levels of reproductive steroids, we propose that the similarity of performance between younger and older girls in mental rotation of letters could be associated with society's traditional attitudes and expectations on the relationship between visual-spatial skills and gender. As for the mirror task, while only girls had a significant difference between the two age groups, boys did show an improvement, as expected for the inhibition of mirror generalization for letters during reading acquisition.

Childhood Experience Reduces Gender Differences in Spatial Abilities: A Cross-Cultural Study.

Spatial experience in childhood is a factor in the development of spatial abilities. In this study, we assessed whether American and Faroese participants' (N = 246, Mage = 19.31 years, 151 females) early spatial experience and adult spatial outcomes differed by gender and culture, and if early experience was related to adult performance and behavior. Participants completed retrospective reports on their childhood spatial experience, both large-scale (permitted childhood range size) and small-scale (Lego play). They also completed assessments of their current large-scale spatial behavior (navigational strategy) and small-scale ability (mental rotation task, MRT). We replicated earlier results showing better MRT performance among males and more reliance by males on orientation navigational strategies, although males and females reported similar ranges as children. However, there were cross-cultural differences, with Faroese having larger childhood ranges, less reliance on route strategies, better MRT scores, and a smaller gender difference in MRT. Larger permitted childhood ranges were associated with reduced use of route strategies for navigation in adulthood, and greater Lego play in childhood predicted better MRT performance as adults. There was also some evidence supporting relationships across spatial scales, with more Lego play predicting an orientation style of navigation and larger childhood ranges predicting better performance on the MRT, although the latter was not independent of country. In sum, we observed an association in both cultures between large-scale childhood experience and large-scale behavior in adulthood, small-scale experience in childhood and adult small-scale performance, and some associations between experience and behavior across spatial scales.

Investigating spatial skills and math anxiety as mediators in a sequential mediation model: A pilot study

Prior research showed a gender effect on spatial ability, math anxiety, and math achievement. Lacking, however, is a comprehensive study that testedthe mediation effects of spatial ability and math anxiety between gender and math achievement in a sequential mediation model. To fill this gap, this pilot study tested two mediation relationships, one with spatial ability as a mediator, gender as a predictor, and math anxiety as an outcome variable; the other with math anxiety as a mediator, spatial ability as a predictor, and math achievement as an outcome variable. In addition, the study tested the relative strengths of the relationship between specific spatial skills that included perspective-taking, spatial imagery, and mental rotation and collegiate math achievement that included trigonometry, calculus, and linear algebra) via canonical correlations. Lastly, gender differences in spatial skills, math anxiety, and math achievement were investigated. The results of the independent t-tests showed that none of the well-documented gender differences in spatial ability was found. Canonical correlation analysis showed that a single canonical variable is sufficient in accounting for math-spatial relationship. The sequential mediation model, with spatial ability and math achievement serving as themediators in the model, fitted reasonably well. However, none of the mediation effects was statistically significant. Implications of these findings and future directions of this research are discussed

Gender differences in children's wayfinding

ABSTRACT Gender differences in spatial ability are widely acknowledged, but research to date is equivocal on gender differences in wayfinding ability of children. Indeed, the precise nature of the relationship between gender and wayfinding needs further exploration, especially within real-world outdoor environments. There is a need for more research on this topic, not least to better understand the implications of gender differences in wayfinding for facilitation of our educational programs. This article focuses on this issue by seeking to explore children's map understanding and map use in relation to gender in a large-scale outdoor environment. Ninety-seven children, 3–13 years old, were presented with a pictorial map with 7 controls which they had to locate in any order. Measure of accuracy in wayfinding (number of correctly identified controls) indicate small gender differences. However, measure of efficiency in wayfinding (time spent on the task) indicate that boys outperform girls.

Mediation Relationships Among Gender, Spatial Ability, Math Anxiety, and Math Achievement

In this review, findings from studies investigating gender differences in spatial ability, math anxiety, and math achievement, the relationship between spatial ability and math anxiety, between spatial ability and math achievement, and between math anxiety and math achievement are synthesized. As a result of this synthesis, a sequential mediation model that allows simultaneous testing of two mediational relationships has been derived. Within this model, paths from gender to spatial ability, from spatial ability to math anxiety, and from math anxiety to math achievement are more strongly supported by prior studies than the paths from gender to math anxiety, from gender to math achievement, and from math achievement to math anxiety.

Spatial Ability Explains the Male Advantage in Approximate Arithmetic.

Previous research has shown that females consistently outperform males in exact arithmetic, perhaps due to the former’s advantage in language processing. Much less is known about gender difference in approximate arithmetic. Given that approximate arithmetic is closely associated with visuospatial processing, which shows a male advantage we hypothesized that males would perform better than females in approximate arithmetic. In two experiments (496 children in Experiment 1 and 554 college students in Experiment 2), we found that males showed better performance in approximate arithmetic, which was accounted for by gender differences in spatial ability.

I believe I'm good at orienting myself… But is that true?

The present study aimed to analyse beliefs that men and women have with respect to their sense of direction (SOD) and whether they correlate with spatial environmental task performance. Eighty-four students filled in the short version of the Familiarity and Spatial Cognitive Style Scale to evaluate beliefs on their SOD, knowledge of the city (TK), spatial ability (SA) and wayfinding (WA) and performed three spatial environmental tasks. Results showed that gender did not predict the performance on the spatial environmental tasks, whereas it can be predicted by participants' beliefs related to their SOD and TK. The findings point out the need to identify specific training aimed at improving women's metacognitive skills in order to delete or reduce gender differences in SA.

Working Memory and Strategy Use Contribute to Gender Differences in Spatial Ability

In this review, a new model that is grounded in information-processing theory is proposed to account for gender differences in spatial ability. The proposed model assumes that the relative strength of working memory, as expressed by the ratio of visuospatial working memory to verbal working memory, influences the type of strategies used on spatial ability tasks. Strategy use, in turn, influences performance on spatial ability tasks. Gender differences in spatial ability can be explained by gender differences in strategy use as a function of the relative strength of visuospatial working memory to verbal working memory.

Mental Rotation Test Performance of Chinese Male and Female University Students

The Mental Rotation Test (MRT) of spatial abilities has consistently produced large gender differences favoring males. Recent social changes in gender attitudes and gender roles have not diminished such differences. Of special interest is the finding that the MRT involves a spatial ability positively correlated with higher-level math ability; individuals who do well on the MRT also tend to score high on standardized test of mathematics. In our previous studies using a GRE Math Subject Practice Test, we had found a lack of gender differences in math for Chinese college students. At the same time, we found an over-representation of males among physics and computer sciences majors in Chinese colleges. These findings lead to an obvious question regarding gender differences in spatial ability, especially the MRT among Chinese students. The present study was conducted to obtain MRT data from the same population of Chinese college students used in our earlier math studies. We found male Chinese students scored significantly higher than their female counterparts on the MRT.

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

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.

Correction for Hoffman et al., Nurture affects gender differences in spatial abilities

Correction for Hoffman et al., Nurture affects gender differences in spatial abilities

Nurture affects gender differences in spatial abilities

Women remain significantly underrepresented in the science, engineering, and technology workforce. Some have argued that spatial ability differences, which represent the most persistent gender differences in the cognitive literature, are partly responsible for this gap(.) The underlying forces at work shaping the observed spatial ability differences revolve naturally around the relative roles of nature and nurture. Although these forces remain among the most hotly debated in all of the sciences, the evidence for nurture is tenuous, because it is difficult to compare gender differences among biologically similar groups with distinct nurture. In this study, we use a large-scale incentivized experiment with nearly 1,300 participants to show that the gender gap in spatial abilities, measured by time to solve a puzzle, disappears when we move from a patrilineal society to an adjoining matrilineal society. We also show that about one-third of the effect can be explained by differences in education. Given that none of our participants have experience with puzzle solving and that villagers from both societies have the same means of subsistence and shared genetic background, we argue that these results show the role of nurture in the gender gap in cognitive abilities.

From the archive: ‘Durable and generalized effects of spatial experience on mental rotation: Gender differences in growth patterns’ by M. S. Terlecki, N. S. Newcombe, & M. Little (2008). Applied Cognitive Psychology, 22, 996–1013 with commentary

AbstractAmong the many excellent papers that I accepted for publication, Terlecki, et al. was one of the best. In exploring gender differences in spatial cognition, Terlecki et al. presented a methodologically and analytically rigorous study that provides both theoretical and applied insights. Findings suggest that even if the often observed gender differences in spatial ability—in which men outperform women—are biologically based, experience with spatial tasks leads to notable improvements among both men and women. The results have practical importance: women who report the most impoverished history of spatial experience are those for whom exposure to spatial tasks has the least impact initially, but additional exposure eventually produces the most rapidly improving results. Hence, one should not give up on training too easily; early discouraging performance is not predictive of eventual outcome, as long as the training persists. These results suggest viewing any genetic contributions to differences as calling for enriching, and not depressing, the environments of those who are most affected.

Gender Differences in Spatial Ability and Using Strategies for Solving Spatial Problems

Gender Differences in Spatial Ability and Using Strategies for Solving Spatial Problems

Gender Differences in Spatial Ability of Young Children: The Effects of Training and Processing Strategies

A sample of 116 children (M=6 years 7 months) in Grade 1 was randomly assigned to experimental (n=60) and control (n=56) groups, with equal numbers of boys and girls in each group. The experimental group received a program aimed at improving representation and transformation of visuospatial information, whereas the control group received a substitute program. All children were administered mental rotation tests before and after an intervention program and a Global-Local Processing Strategies test before the intervention. The results revealed that initial gender differences in spatial ability disappeared following treatment in the experimental but not in the control group. Gender differences were moderated by strategies used to process visuospatial information. Intervention and processing strategies were essential in reducing gender differences in spatial abilities.

Factors Influencing the Development of Mental-Rotation Ability The Role of Socio-Cultural Background

It is hypothesized that the fact whether female and male students were socialized in East or West Germany influences their development of spatial ability differently. In this study 357 students from a West German University (Koblenz) and an East German University (Magdeburg) majoring either in computational visualization (CV) or in non-technical fields (NTF) were examined with the Mental-Rotation Test (MRT). In addition they completed questionnaires on experiences and attitudes related to spatial abilities. At both universities males scored higher on MRT than females and CV students higher than NTF students. However, there were significant interactions between major and gender, and major and university. Males and females, students of different majors and from both universities also differed in their ability-related self-concept, in relevant experiences, in attitudes towards math and physics, and in gender-role attitudes. Linear regression analyses revealed that different attitudinal and experiential variables predict MRT performance in male and female students and that the variance explained by them is higher in females than in males. Our results support the “biological-environmental-interactionist” approach of gender differences in spatial abilities.