Sex Differences In Accuracy Research Articles

Abstract 16342: Age- and Sex-Differences in Accuracy of ICD-10 Codes for Identifying Adults With Pulmonary Embolism: PE-EHR+ Study

Background Age and sex-differences exist in presentation of adults with pulmonary embolism (PE). However, it remains unclear if these differences influence the accuracy of International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes used for identification of PE. Methods: Using multicenter data from Mass General-Brigham Health System (2016-2021), patients were randomly selected from 3 groups: 578 patients with Principal Discharge codes for PE, 578 with Secondary Discharge codes for PE, and 578 without codes for PE. The reference standard for identification of PE was manual chart review by 2 independent physicians. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were determined by age (<65 vs ≥65 years) and sex (female vs male). Weighted estimates were obtained by using the total number of hospitalizations. Results: Among 1712 patients included in final analyses, 896 (52.3%) were female and 775 (45.3%) were ≥65 years. Use of Principal-or-Secondary ICD-10 codes had a similar sensitivity by sex (99.5% vs 100% among females vs males) and age (99.8% among both groups) in the study sample. The weighted sensitivity among females was 72.8% (vs 100% for males) and 80.4% among patients ≥65 years (vs 85.2% for <65 years). In the weighted cohort, the positive predictive value was 78.2% among females (vs 80.3% for males) and 78.3% among those ≥65 years (vs 80.0% for <65 years) (Table). Age and sex-differences in the diagnostic accuracy were similarly observed in analyses restricted to Principal, or to Secondary codes. Conclusions: Principal-or-Secondary ICD-10 codes had lower sensitivity and positive predictive value among females and older adults, though the sex-differences in sensitivity may be influenced by limited number of false negatives in this study. Additionally, Secondary codes had higher false positives among older adults. These findings may have important implications for identification of patients with PE using ICD-10 codes.

The Development of Working Memory: Sex Differences in Accuracy and Reaction Times

ABSTRACT Small but robust differences in cognition exist between the sexes in adult populations. Studying sex differences in children’s cognition can bring insight into when, where and how these differences might emerge in development. Here, we focus on differences in working memory because of its importance in underpinning a wide range of complex cognitive tasks and developmental outcomes for children. Using two levels of difficulty on a standard test of working memory (N-Back), data from 104 6- to 7-year-olds in Cuba showed that boys have quicker reaction times, but girls provide more accurate responses. With a comparable true positive rate between boys and girls, the sex differences in both accuracy and reaction times were limited to false-positive responses. Sex differences were consistent across levels of task difficulty and persisted after speed-accuracy trade-offs were considered. We argue that avoiding false positives requires a particularly strong role for inhibitory control and that this emerges in development according to a different maturational schedule for girls than it does for boys, underpinned by quantitative and qualitative differences in the development of brain areas that support this function.

Zebrafish excel in number discrimination under an operant conditioning paradigm

Numerical discrimination is widespread in vertebrates, but this capacity varies enormously between the different species examined. The guppy (Poecilia reticulata), the only teleost examined following procedures that allow a comparison with the other vertebrates, outperforms amphibians, reptiles and many warm-blooded vertebrates, but it is unclear whether this is a feature shared with the other teleosts or represents a peculiarity of this species. We trained zebrafish (Danio rerio) to discriminate between numbers differing by one unit, varying task difficulty from 2 versus 3 to 5 versus 6 items. Non-numerical variables that covary with number, such as density or area, did not affect performance. Most fish reached learning criterion on all tasks up to 4 versus 5 discrimination with no sex difference in accuracy. Although no individual reached learning criterion in the 5 versus 6 task, performance was significant at the group level, suggesting that this may represent the discrimination threshold for zebrafish. Numerosity discrimination abilities of zebrafish compare to those of guppy, being higher than in some warm-blooded vertebrates, such as dogs, horses and domestic fowl, though lower than in parrots, corvids and primates. Learning rate was similar in a control group trained to discriminate between different-sized shapes, but zebrafish were slightly more accurate when discriminating areas than numbers and males were more accurate than females. At the end of the experiment, fish trained on numbers and controls trained on areas generalized to the reciprocal set of stimuli, indicating they had used a relational strategy to solve these tasks.

Similar attention and performance in female and male CD1 mice in the peak procedure

Inaccurate and distorted timing are associated with neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia in humans, which generates interest in the discovery and understanding of the factors behind such timing difficulties. Timing research in mice has taken an important role, because the availability of genetically-altered strains allows establishing the causal role of specific genes on such neurodegenerative disorders. Nevertheless, few studies have considered mice’s sex and some have found sex differences in timing, although results are not yet conclusive. We tested female and male CD1 mice, an outbred strain not yet studied in a peak procedure. By varying the percentage of peak trials and the presence of a gap and/or a distractor in the tests, we found no sex differences in accuracy, precision, or attention. Both females and males followed a stop-clock strategy after distractor and gap + distractor trials. This suggests that both male and female CD1 mice may be exposed to a peak procedure to study factors associated to neurotoxicology or neurogenesis.

Investigating sex differences in the accuracy of dietary assessment methods to measure energy intake in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ABSTRACTBackgroundTo inform the interpretation of dietary data in the context of sex differences in diet–disease relations, it is important to understand whether there are any sex differences in accuracy of dietary reporting.ObjectiveTo quantify sex differences in self-reported total energy intake (TEI) compared with a reference measure of total energy expenditure (TEE).MethodsSix electronic databases were systematically searched for published original research articles between 1980 and April 2020. Studies were included if they were conducted in adult populations with measures for both females and males of self-reported TEI and TEE from doubly labeled water (DLW). Studies were screened and quality assessed independently by 2 authors. Random-effects meta-analyses were conducted to pool the mean differences between TEI and TEE for, and between, females and males, by method of dietary assessment.ResultsFrom 1313 identified studies, 31 met the inclusion criteria. The studies collectively included information on 4518 individuals (54% females). Dietary assessment methods included 24-h recalls (n = 12, 2 with supplemental photos of food items consumed), estimated food records (EFRs; n = 11), FFQs (n = 10), weighed food records (WFRs, n = 5), and diet histories (n = 2). Meta-analyses identified underestimation of TEI by females and males, ranging from −1318 kJ/d (95% CI: −1967, −669) for FFQ to −2650 kJ/d (95% CI: −3492, −1807) for 24-h recalls for females, and from −1764 kJ/d (95% CI: −2285, −1242) for FFQ to −3438 kJ/d (95% CI: −5382, −1494) for WFR for males. There was no difference in the level of underestimation by sex, except when using EFR, for which males underestimated energy intake more than females (by 590 kJ/d, 95% CI: 35, 1,146).ConclusionSubstantial underestimation of TEI across a range of dietary assessment methods was identified, similar by sex. These underestimations should be considered when assessing TEI and interpreting diet–disease relations.

Sex differences in facial emotion recognition across varying expression intensity levels from videos.

There has been much research on sex differences in the ability to recognise facial expressions of emotions, with results generally showing a female advantage in reading emotional expressions from the face. However, most of the research to date has used static images and/or ‘extreme’ examples of facial expressions. Therefore, little is known about how expression intensity and dynamic stimuli might affect the commonly reported female advantage in facial emotion recognition. The current study investigated sex differences in accuracy of response (Hu; unbiased hit rates) and response latencies for emotion recognition using short video stimuli (1sec) of 10 different facial emotion expressions (anger, disgust, fear, sadness, surprise, happiness, contempt, pride, embarrassment, neutral) across three variations in the intensity of the emotional expression (low, intermediate, high) in an adolescent and adult sample (N = 111; 51 male, 60 female) aged between 16 and 45 (M = 22.2, SD = 5.7). Overall, females showed more accurate facial emotion recognition compared to males and were faster in correctly recognising facial emotions. The female advantage in reading expressions from the faces of others was unaffected by expression intensity levels and emotion categories used in the study. The effects were specific to recognition of emotions, as males and females did not differ in the recognition of neutral faces. Together, the results showed a robust sex difference favouring females in facial emotion recognition using video stimuli of a wide range of emotions and expression intensity variations.

Photographs of real human figures: Item types and persistent sex differences in mental rotation.

The goal of the current study was to provide a better understanding of the role of image familiarity, embodied cognition, and cognitive strategies on sex differences in performance when rotating blocks and photographs of real human bodies. Two new Mental Rotation Tests (MRTs) were created: one using photographs of real human models positioned as closely as possible to computer drawn figures from the human figures MRT used in Doyle and Voyer's 2013 study, and one using analogous block figures. It was hypothesised that, when compared to the analogous block figures, the real human figures would lead to improved accuracy among both men and women, a reduced magnitude of sex differences in accuracy, and a reduced effect of occlusion on women's performance when compared to analogous block figures. The three-way interaction between test, sex, and occlusion reported in Doyle and Voyer's 2013 study was not replicated in the current study. However, women's scores on the real human figures improved significantly more than men's scores on the real human figures test compared to gender differences in improvement on the block figures test. This finding points to a greater strategy shift among women than men when rotating human figures.

Sex Differences in Accuracy and Precision When Judging Time to Arrival: Data from Two Internet Studies

We report two Internet studies that investigated sex differences in the accuracy and precision of judging time to arrival. We used accuracy to mean the ability to match the actual time to arrival and precision to mean the consistency with which each participant made their judgments. Our task was presented as a computer game in which a toy UFO moved obliquely towards the participant through a virtual three-dimensional space on route to a docking station. The UFO disappeared before docking and participants pressed their space bar at the precise moment they thought the UFO would have docked. Study 1 showed it was possible to conduct quantitative studies of spatiotemporal judgments in virtual reality via the Internet and confirmed reports that men are more accurate because women underestimate, but found no difference in precision measured as intra-participant variation. Study 2 repeated Study 1 with five additional presentations of one condition to provide a better measure of precision. Again, men were more accurate than women but there were no sex differences in precision. However, within the coincidence-anticipation timing (CAT) literature, of those studies that report sex differences, a majority found that males are both more accurate and more precise than females. Noting that many CAT studies report no sex differences, we discuss appropriate interpretations of such null findings. While acknowledging that CAT performance may be influenced by experience we suggest that the sex difference may have originated among our ancestors with the evolutionary selection of men for hunting and women for gathering.

A thin slice of violence: distinguishing violent from nonviolent sex offenders at a glance

A growing body of literature in evolutionary psychology suggests that person perception processes are adaptively tuned. The current investigation tested the hypothesis that people would be able to detect a propensity for violence in other people, based only on a brief glance at their face. Participants estimated the propensity for violence in 87 registered sex offenders after seeing photos of them for 2 s each. Estimated likelihood of violence was significantly related to actual violent history, suggesting that violent tendencies can be accurately inferred from a brief look at a person's face. Cues indicative of high masculinity and high levels of male sex hormones (heavy brow, general facial masculinity, high physical strength, younger age) were related to accurate judgments. Other cues such as facial emotion and good grooming were not associated with an actual history of violence, but nevertheless correlated with raters' judgments. Although there were no sex differences in accuracy, on average women thought targets were more violent than men did. Findings speak to the accuracy and efficiency with which people can detect potential threats to physical well-being.

Sex Differences in Detecting Sexual Infidelity : Results of a Maximum Likelihood Method for Analyzing the Sensitivity of Sex Differences to Underreporting.

Despite the importance of extrapair copulation (EPC) in human evolution, almost nothing is known about the design features of EPC detection mechanisms. We tested for sex differences in EPC inference-making mechanisms in a sample of 203 young couples. Men made more accurate inferences (φmen = 0.66, φwomen = 0.46), and the ratio of positive errors to negative errors was higher for men than for women (1.22 vs. 0.18). Since some may have been reluctant to admit EPC behavior, we modeled how underreporting could have influenced these results. These analyses indicated that it would take highly sex-differentiated levels of underreporting by subjects with trusting partners for there to be no real sex difference. Further analyses indicated that men may be less willing to harbor unresolved suspicions about their partners' EPC behavior, which may explain the sex difference in accuracy. Finally, we estimated that women underreported their own EPC behavior (10%) more than men (0%).

A state-dependent sex difference in spatial memory in pinyon jays, Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus: mated females forget as predicted by natural history

Based on differing roles during the breeding season, male pinyon jays are predicted to be more accurate than females in recovering cached seeds over long retention intervals. We additionally predicted that males should be able to accurately recover caches made by their mates over short and long retention intervals. We conducted four experiments to test these predictions. During experiment 1, we tested the accuracies of the jays' spatial memory at a short retention interval of 5–7 days. We tested their recovery of their own caches and caches made in their presence by their mate and a nonmate of the opposite sex. While females and males found their own caches with similar accuracy, males were more accurate in finding caches made by their mates. Experiment 2 used the same design for caching, but longer retention intervals of 1, 2 and 4 months. Males were more accurate than females in the longer month intervals. To test whether differences found indicated a broad difference in spatial cognition, in experiment 3 we tested nonmated male and female jays in an open-field analogue to the radial arm maze. There were no significant effects of sex for task acquisition, accuracies across retention intervals, or patterns of adjacent holes or errors chosen. In experiment 4, we compared nonmated males and females in cache recovery at long internals and found no sex difference in accuracy. In addition, neither sex was affected by opportunities for memory rehearsal. We conclude that spatial memory in pinyon jays may be a state-dependent trait: females tend to be less accurate after longer intervals when mated than when not mated.

Sex, sexual orientation, and identification of positive and negative facial affect

Sex and sexual orientation related differences in processing of happy and sad facial emotions were examined using an experimental facial emotion recognition paradigm with a large sample ( N=240). Analysis of covariance (controlling for age and IQ) revealed that women (irrespective of sexual orientation) had faster reaction times than men for accurate identification of facial emotion and were more accurate in identifying male faces than female ones, whereas men performed the same regardless of the sex of the face. However, there were no overall sex differences in accuracy. These findings suggest a limited role for sex in the perception of facial affect.

Impossible “mental rotation” problems: A mismeasure of women's spatial abilities?

Current textbooks report that men's visual–spatial skills are superior to women's. However, the research is not consistent with this sweeping generalization. We hypothesized that sex differences would be more pronounced on “impossible problems” (mirror images) than possible rotations. We also hypothesized that males' performance would be adversely affected by visual interference, whereas females' performance would be adversely affected by auditory interference. Ninety-five college students (25 males, 70 females) viewed images of a train station from various perspectives, including some that were impossible rotations of the original image. There were no sex differences in accuracy or response time on the possible rotation problems, but males were more accurate than females on impossible problems. Neither auditory nor visual interference affected accuracy. The alleged sex difference in mental rotation problems is largely due to the use of problems that are not actually mental rotation problems.

Stimulus features and sex differences in mental rotation test performance

This study examined sex differences in spatial abilities using a standard two-dimensional paper-and-pencil test of mental rotation administered to 410 subjects. A personality questionnaire and six other ability tests related to mental rotation were also administered: numerical ability, verbal ability, inductive reasoning, associative memory, perceptual speed and accuracy, and speed of closure. Structural and superficial features of the tasks were specified, and sex differences in accuracy and speed were examined. Certain features of the mental rotation test stimuli (e.g., long trajectories, multilined or multispotted) proved difficult for both males and females, but more difficult for females. These findings were interpreted in the light of Just and Carpenter's (1985) model. Males also completed more items than females. In this regard, personality factors related to cautiousness yielded significant negative correlations with speed. On the related ability tests, males outperformed females on a numerical skills test, and females outperformed males on an associative memory test. No significant sex differences emerged on the other four ability tests.

Clusters and reference points in cognitive representations of the environment

The study examined the roles of hierarchical clusters and reference points in individuals' mental representations of their environment. Cluster analyses were performed on the subjects' self-produced building lists to determine how they subdivided the university campus and a series of rating scales was used to determine which of their buildings acted as reference points. In keeping with the assumption that cluster inclusion is used as a source of information in making distance judgements, subjects gave larger distance estimates for cross-cluster than for within-cluster building pairs. The prediction that subjects would make larger estimates when judging the distance to a reference point vs from a reference point was not substantiated by the data, however, two other results supported the role of reference points in drawing together categories: due to their strong ties with numerous locations, reference points entered subjects' hierarchies relatively late; and subjects made more accurate building placements when given reference anchors. Sex differences in accuracy on the various spatial judgements led to the suggestion that females were more dependent upon clustering and reference points than were males.

An Investigation of Some Cognitive Factors Involved in Person-Perception during Selection Interviews

The study examined some of the cognitive components in accuracy of social perception during the selection interview. 75 undergraduates completed several cognitive measures and were then required to interview a candidate for the job of accountant and make ratings of the candidate on several dimensions. Analysis showed pervasive sex differences in accuracy, and many effects specific either to same sex or to opposite sex dyads. Accuracy of female interviewers tended to be associated with greater cognitive complexity and integration of the interviewers. Accuracy of male interviewers was more dependent on the sex of the candidate; when interviewing a male candidate, accuracy was negatively associated with cognitive integration and when interviewing a female candidate, accuracy was negatively associated with the logical memory and visual recall subscales of the Wechsler Memory Scale.

Effects of anxiety and stress on accuracy of interpersonal perception.

Metaperspective (MP) refers to a person's perception of another person's perception of him. It was hypothesized that: (a) high anxiety (HA) Ss would be less accurate in MP than low anxiety (LA) Ss; (b) LA Ss would be more accurate in MP than HA Ss in a stress situation; (c) there would be no sex differences in accuracy of MP; and (d) in like-sexed dyads, there would be more accurate MP than in opposite-sexed dyads. 8 groups were formed, each including 2 HA males, 2 HA females, 2 LA males, and 2 LA females. After having completed a self-concept scale 4 groups were assigned to a non-stress condition and 4 to a stress condition. All Ss then completed a stress questionnaire and scales measuring their perception of each S and their perception of each S's perception of them. None of the hypotheses were accepted.