Sex Differences In Spatial Ability Research Articles

Still little evidence sex differences in spatial navigation are evolutionary adaptations.

A putative male advantage in wayfinding ability is the most widely documented sex difference in human cognition and has also been observed in other animals. The common interpretation, the sex-specific adaptation hypothesis, posits that this male advantage evolved as an adaptive response to sex differences in home range size. A previous study a decade ago tested this hypothesis by comparing sex differences in home range size and spatial ability among 11 species and found no relationship. However, the study was limited by the small sample size, the lack of species with a larger female home range and the lack of non-Western human data. The present study represents an update that addresses all of these limitations, including data from 10 more species and from human subsistence cultures. Consistent with the previous result, we found little evidence that sex differences in spatial navigation and home range size are related. We conclude that sex differences in spatial ability are more likely due to experiential factors and/or unselected biological side effects, rather than functional outcomes of natural selection.

Contrasting parental roles shape sex differences in poison frog space use but not navigational performance.

Sex differences in vertebrate spatial abilities are typically interpreted under the adaptive specialization hypothesis, which posits that male reproductive success is linked to larger home ranges and better navigational skills. The androgen spillover hypothesis counters that enhanced male spatial performance may be a byproduct of higher androgen levels. Animal groups that include species where females are expected to outperform males based on life-history traits are key for disentangling these hypotheses. We investigated the association between sex differences in reproductive strategies, spatial behavior, and androgen levels in three species of poison frogs. We tracked individuals in natural environments to show that contrasting parental sex roles shape sex differences in space use, where the sex performing parental duties shows wider-ranging movements. We then translocated frogs from their home areas to test their navigational performance and found that the caring sex outperformed the non-caring sex only in one out of three species. In addition, males across species displayed more explorative behavior than females and androgen levels correlated with explorative behavior and homing accuracy. Overall, we reveal that poison frog reproductive strategies shape movement patterns but not necessarily navigational performance. Together this work suggests that prevailing adaptive hypotheses provide an incomplete explanation of sex differences in spatial abilities.

Who can benefit from augmented reality in chemistry? Sex differences in solving stereochemistry problems using augmented reality

AbstractThis paper is about augmented reality (AR) and its potentials to support students in handling scientific representations. For this purpose, first representations are examined from a science educational and instructional psychology perspective. After giving a short overview of AR in general and how it can be delineated from virtual reality (VR), potential advantages of an educational use of AR are outlined considering typical difficulties of students when learning with scientific representations. Since literature frequently reports sex differences in spatial abilities, this study focuses on potential differential effects in the use of AR depending on sex. Against this background, AR might be a tool which can help to compensate for disadvantages in spatial abilities. In order to investigate this question, chemistry students had to answer 20 items related to stereochemistry, a concept that places high demands on mental spatial rotation skills. While one half of the items had to be solved using two‐dimensional (2D) ball‐and‐stick figures of molecules, the other half had to be answered with the help of AR representations. Due to the aforementioned sex differences regarding visuo‐spatial abilities between males and females found in the literature, it is hypothesized that AR representations will support all students but females in particular by reducing cognitive load. If this assumption is correct, the AR items would have to be correctly solved by the students more often than the 2D items. The results of analyses of variance indeed reveal a significant effect of the sex variable dependent on the type of representation. In addition, a questionnaire was administered to survey the students’ attitudes towards learning with the AR app used.

Beyond Biological Sex: Interactive Effects of Gender Role and Sex Hormones on Spatial Abilities.

Sex differences in spatial abilities are well documented, even though their underlying causes are poorly understood. Some studies assume a biological basis of these differences and study the relationship of sex hormone levels to spatial abilities. Other studies assume social influences and study the relationship of gender role (masculinity/femininity) to spatial abilities. Contemporary theories postulate a psychobiosocial model of sex differences in spatial abilities, in which both biological (e.g., hormonal) and psychosocial (e.g., gender role) variables interactively modulate spatial abilities. However, few studies have addressed both aspects simultaneously. Accordingly, the present study explores potential interactive effects between gender role and sex hormones on spatial performance. 41 men and 41 women completed a mental rotation and a virtual navigation task. Sex hormone levels and gender role were assessed in all participants. Sex differences favoring men were observed in both tasks. We found that neither sex hormones nor gender role alone emerged as mediators of these sex differences. However, several interactive effects between gender role and sex hormones were identified. Combined effects of masculinity and testosterone were observed for those variables that displayed sex differences. Participants with both, high masculinity and high testosterone showed the best performance. However, this association was further modulated by biological sex and progesterone levels. Furthermore, we observed an interactive effect of femininity, estradiol and testosterone on response times in both tasks. Consistent across both tasks and irrespective of biological sex, testosterone related to response times in participants with low estradiol levels, depending on their femininity. In participants with low femininity, testosterone was related to slower reaction times, while in participants with higher femininity, testosterone was related to faster reaction times.

Prenatal testosterone does not explain sex differences in spatial ability

The most consistent sex differences in cognition are found for spatial ability, in which males, on average, outperform females. Utilizing a twin design, two studies have shown that females with male co-twins perform better than females with female co-twins on a mental rotation task. According to the Twin Testosterone Transfer hypothesis (TTT) this advantage is due to in-uterine transmission of testosterone from males to females. The present study tested the TTT across 14 different spatial ability measures, including mental rotation tasks, in a large sample of 19–21-year-old twins. Males performed significantly better than females on all spatial tasks, with effect sizes ranging from η2 = 0.02 to η2 = 0.16. Females with a male co-twin outperformed females with a female co-twin in two of the tasks. The effect sizes for both differences were negligible (η2 < 0.02). Contrary to the previous studies, our results gave no indication that prenatally transferred testosterone, from a male to a female twin, influences sex differences in spatial ability.

Illuminating sex differences in mental rotation using pupillometry

We use pupillometry to measure sex differences in mental rotation (MR) and to investigate the contentious claim that it is a unique spatial ability marked by male advantage in performance. Across two MR tasks – using Shepard-Metzler style cube figures and images of human hands – we measure reaction time (RT) and sensitivity, d’, and supplement these behavioural data with a physiological metric of ‘cognitive effort’, pupil diameter. Differences in RT and in d’ between the sexes are slight for the cubes task, while females are consistently faster than males on the hands task. In contrast, pupillometry reveals striking a sex difference, with males showing significantly lower pupil dilation during the cubes task, suggesting less cognitive effort for comparable behavioural performance. This difference is attenuated during the MR of hands, in line with recent findings that sex differences in spatial abilities dissipate when elements of social perspective taking are introduced.Taxonomy: Attention, Perception

Sex differences in spatial abilities and cognitive flexibility in the guppy

When males and females differ in their spatial ecology, selection is expected to promote sex differences in spatial abilities. Although this prediction applies to many species, few studies have looked at sex differences in spatial abilities outside mammals. Here, we addressed this hypothesis in the guppy, Poecilia reticulata, a polygynous fish in which males disperse more than females and inhabit more spatially complex environments. We compared the performance of male and female guppies in two spatial tasks to test whether males have been selected for enhanced spatial abilities. In a detour task (experiment 1), the two sexes showed similar ability to navigate around an obstacle to reach a target. However, males were more persistent in trying to pass through the transparent obstacle, an effect that is likely to be related to sex differences in cognitive flexibility rather than to spatial abilities. In the second experiment, with a more complex maze in which guppies had to choose between alternative routes to reach the target, males learned the task after only one presentation, whereas females did not show any evidence of learning after five trials. The direction of these differences is the same as that observed in most polygynous species investigated, suggesting a common pattern of cognitive sex differences across vertebrates.

Implicit and Explicit Gender Beliefs in Spatial Ability: Stronger Stereotyping in Boys than Girls.

Sex differences in spatial ability are a seriously debated topic, given the importance of spatial ability for success in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and girls' underrepresentation in these domains. In the current study we investigated the presence of stereotypic gender beliefs on spatial ability (i.e., “spatial ability is for boys”) in 10- and 12-year-old children. We used both an explicit measure (i.e., a self-report questionnaire) and an implicit measure (i.e., a child IAT). Results of the explicit measure showed that both sexes associated spatial ability with boys, with boys holding more male stereotyped attitudes than girls. On the implicit measure, boys associated spatial ability with boys, while girls were gender-neutral. In addition, we examined the effects of gender beliefs on spatial performance, by experimentally activating gender beliefs within a pretest—instruction—posttest design. We compared three types of instruction: boys are better, girls are better, and no sex differences. No effects of these gender belief instructions were found on children's spatial test performance (i.e., mental rotation and paper folding). The finding that children of this age already have stereotypic beliefs about the spatial capacities of their own sex is important, as these beliefs may influence children's choices for spatial leisure activities and educational tracks in the STEM domain.

Sex difference in spatial ability for college students and exploration of measurement invariance

This study investigates psychometric evidence for a spatial ability instrument with a focus on measurement invariance and sex difference in this domain. The Purdue Visualization of Rotations (ROT) test was administered to science major students enrolled in a college chemistry course to measure mental rotation ability. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to evaluate the fit of three alternative models. A bi-factor model is a better fit for the data than other models (1-factor, 4-factor 2nd-order), which indicates that the probability of answering a test item correctly is affected not only by student ability but also by an item-writing pattern. Results from multiple-group CFA support the measurement invariance of the bi-factor model between sexes and the outperformance of males over females with medium to large effect sizes. In conclusion, the ROT is appropriate to measure student mental rotation ability in college classrooms and to detect a difference between sexes.

Sex Differences in Mobility and Spatial Cognition: A Test of the Fertility and Parental Care Hypothesis in Northwestern Namibia.

The fertility and parental care hypothesis interprets sex differences in some spatial-cognitive tasks as an adaptive mechanism to suppress women's travel. In particular, the hypothesis argues that estrogens constrain travel during key reproductive periods by depressing women's spatial-cognitive ability. Limiting travel reduces exposure to the dangers and caloric costs of navigating long distances into unfamiliar environments. Our study evaluates a collection of predictions drawn from the fertility and parental care hypothesis among the Twe and Himba people living in a remote region of Namibia. We find that nursing mothers travel more than women at any other stage of their reproductive career. This challenges the assumption that women limit travel during vulnerable and energetically demanding reproductive periods. In addition, we join previous studies in identifying a relationship between spatial ability and traveling among men, but not women. If spatial ability does not influence travel, hormonally induced changes in spatial ability cannot be used as a mechanism to reduce travel. Instead, it appears the fitness consequences of men's travel is a more likely target for adaptive explanations of the sex differences in spatial ability, navigation, and range size.

Sex differences in learning ability in a common songbird, the great tit—females are better observational learners than males

In mammals, including humans, the most consistent cognitive sex difference appears to be a male advantage in spatial ability. Usually, some sex-correlated selective advantage is inferred to explain this, for example, the need for males to navigate over large territories. In birds, sex differences in learning abilities are rare. Here, we show that females of a common European songbird, the great tit, do clearly better than males in an observational memorization task. We allowed caged great tits to observe food-caching marsh tits in an indoor aviary. One hour later, the great tits were released to search for the cached food. Females consistently performed better than males in this task. The results are remarkable for several reasons: (i) a sex difference in a cognitive ability of such a magnitude is unusual; (ii) most sex differences in spatial ability that have been reported so far concerns a male advantage; and perhaps most remarkably, (iii) female great tits were as successful in relocating the cached food as the hoarding marsh tits themselves. We hypothesize that female great tits are better at this than males because they are subordinate foragers. Males have prior access to food in nature and can easily displace females. Females will then benefit from a special ability to memorize caching positions that makes it possible for them to return and retrieve the food later when males are not around.

Spatial cognition, mobility, and reproductive success in northwestern Namibia

Males occupy a larger range than females in many mammal populations including humans, and show an advantage in certain spatial-cognitive laboratory tasks. Evolutionary psychologists have explained these patterns by arguing that an increase in spatial ability facilitated navigation, which allowed range expansion in pursuit of additional mating and hunting opportunities. This study evaluates this hypothesis in a population with navigational demands similar to those that faced many of our ancestors, the Twe and Tjimba of northwestern Namibia. Twe and Tjimba men have larger visiting ranges than women and are more accurate in both spatial (mental rotations) and navigational (accuracy pointing to distant locations) tasks. Men who perform better on the spatial task not only travel farther than other men, but also have children with more women. These findings offer strong support for the relationship between sex differences in spatial ability and ranging behavior, and identify male mating competition as a possible selective pressure shaping this pattern.

Sex Differences and Similarities in Urban Home Ranges and in the Accuracy of Cognitive Maps

Former research has examined potential human sex differences in spatial abilities or home range size. Both are assumed to have an adaptive function. In this study we combined the investigation of home range size in an urban environment and spatial abilities by accuracy analysis of cognitive maps. Participants (n = 87) drew a sketch of their home range in Vienna depicting all places regularly visited in every-day life. We used the sketches' geographical locations to calculate the size of the home range. With the Geometric Morphometric Methodology, we quantified the accuracy of cognitive maps by measuring Euclidean distances between corresponding landmarks in the sketches and the geographical maps of home ranges. Our results showed a non-significant trend for men to have a larger home range. Overall, participants' cognitive maps were fairly accurate. However, men sketched their home range more precisely than women. Female map accuracy increased as a function of residency duration. In addition, accuracy of cognitive maps was influenced by home range size and number of frequently visited places. In summary, findings indicate that sex differences in home range size and spatial abilities may still persist in humans living in urbanized Western societies, but are also influenced by environmental experience.

Sex differences in spatial abilities of medical graduates entering residency programs

Sex differences favoring males in spatial abilities have been known by cognitive psychologists for more than half a century. Spatial abilities have been related to three-dimensional anatomy knowledge and the performance in technical skills. The issue of sex differences in spatial abilities has not been addressed formally in the medical field. The objective of this study was to test an a priori hypothesis of sex differences in spatial abilities in a group of medical graduates entering their residency programs over a five-year period. A cohort of 214 medical graduates entering their specialist residency training programs was enrolled in a prospective study. Spatial abilities were measured with a redrawn Vandenberg and Kuse Mental Rotations Tests in two (MRTA) and three (MRTC) dimensions. Sex differences favoring males were identified in 131 (61.2%) female and 83 (38.8%) male medical graduates with the median (Q1, Q3) MRTA score [12 (8, 14) vs. 15 (12, 18), respectively; P < 0.0001] and MRTC score [7 (5, 9) vs. 9 (7, 12), respectively; P < 0.0001]. Sex differences in spatial abilities favoring males were demonstrated in the field of medical education, in a group of medical graduates entering their residency programs in a five-year experiment. Caution should be exerted in applying our group finding to individuals because a particular female may have higher spatial abilities and a particular male may have lower spatial abilities.

Sex differences in components of imagined perspective transformation

Little research to date has examined whether sex differences in spatial ability extend to the mental self rotation involved in taking on a third party perspective. This question was addressed in the present study by assessing components of imagined perspective transformations in twenty men and twenty women. Participants made speeded left–right judgements about the hand in which an object was held by front- and back- facing schematic human figures in an “own body transformation task.” Response times were longer when the figure did not share the same spatial orientation as the participant, and were substantially longer than those made for a control task requiring left-right judgements about the same stimuli from the participant's own point of view. A sex difference in imagined perspective transformation favouring males was found to be restricted to the speed of imagined self rotation, and was not observed for components indexing readiness to take a third party point of view, nor in left-right confusion. These findings indicate that the range of spatial abilities for which a sex difference has been established should be extended to include imagined perspective transformations. They also suggest that imagined perspective transformations may not draw upon those empathic social-emotional perspective taking processes for which females show an advantage.

Sex differences in spatial abilities: Methodological problems in Hoffman et al.

Hoffman et al. (1) claimed to provide evidence that “nurture” (i.e., residing in a patrilineal vs. matrilineal tribe in India) critically affects sex differences in spatial abilities. Unfortunately, their conclusion is undermined by major problems with their measures of spatial ability and sex equality.

Importance of accurately measuring spatial abilities

Hoffman et al. (1) suggested that identifying the cultural foundations of sex differences in spatial abilities may uncover the reasons why women tend to be underrepresented in fields of science, technology, and engineering. The authors ingeniously selected their sample from two tribes from Northeast India that appear to differ little in terms of genetic heritage but live in patrilineal and matrilineal societies, respectively. Women from the patrilineal Karbi tribe took longer than their male counterparts to assemble a four-piece jigsaw puzzle. No sex difference in task performance was found in the matrilineal Khasi tribe. This finding suggests that nurture may affect women's spatial abilities, which could have important implications for determining career trajectories. Crucially, this inference rests on the assumption that the puzzle task used in this study is a reasonably valid measure that can reliably gauge substantive sex differences in spatial abilities. For several reasons, this assumption is questionable.

Sex differences in spatial ability: a test of the range size hypothesis in the order Carnivora

Sex differences in spatial cognition have been reported for many species ranging from voles to humans. The range size hypothesis predicts that sex differences in spatial ability will only occur in species in which the mating system selects for differential range size. Consistent with this prediction, we observed sex differences in spatial ability in giant pandas, a promiscuous species in which males inhabit larger ranges than females, but did not observe sex differences in Asian small-clawed otters, a related monogamous species in which males and females share home ranges. These results provide the first evidence of sex differences in spatial ability in the order Carnivora, and are consistent with the range size hypothesis.

Sex differences in mushroom gathering: men expend more energy to obtain equivalent benefits

Some of the strongest evidence for sex differences in human cognition relate to spatial abilities, with men traditionally reported to outperform women. Recently, however, such differences have been shown to be task dependent. Supporting the argument that a critical factor selecting for sex differences in spatial abilities during human evolution is likely to have been the division of labor during the Pleistocene, evidence is accumulating that women excel on tasks appropriate to gathering immobile plant resources, while men excel on tasks appropriate to hunting mobile, unpredictable prey. Most research, with the exception of some recent experimental field studies, has been conducted in the laboratory, with little information available on how men and women actually forage under natural conditions. In a first study, we GPS-tracked the foraging pathways of 21 pairs of men and women from an indigenous Mexican community searching for mushrooms in a natural environment. Measures of costs, benefits and general search efficiency were analyzed and related to differences between the two sexes in foraging patterns. Although men and women collected similar quantities of mushrooms, men did so at significantly higher cost. They traveled further, to greater altitudes, and had higher mean heart rates and energy expenditure (kcal). They also collected fewer species and visited fewer collection sites. These findings are consistent with arguments in the literature that differences in spatial ability between the sexes are domain dependent, with women performing better and more readily adopting search strategies appropriate to a gathering lifestyle than men.

Salivary testosterone does not predict mental rotation performance in men or women

Multiple studies report relationships between circulating androgens and performance on sexually differentiated spatial cognitive tasks in human adults, yet other studies find no such relationships. Relatively small sample sizes are a likely source of some of these discrepancies. The present study thus tests for activational effects of testosterone (T) using a within-participants design by examining relationships between diurnal fluctuations in salivary T and performance on a male-biased spatial cognitive task (Mental Rotation Task) in the largest sample yet collected: 160 women and 177 men. T concentrations were unrelated to within-sex variation in mental rotation performance in both sexes. Further, between-session learning-related changes in performance were unrelated to T levels, and circadian changes in T were unrelated to changes in spatial performance in either sex. These results suggest that circulating T does not contribute substantially to sex differences in spatial ability in young men and women. By elimination, the contribution of androgens to sex differences in human performance on these tasks may be limited to earlier, organizational periods.