Early sex differences in spatial skill.

Levine, Susan C.; Huttenlocher, Janellen; Taylor, Amy E; Langrock, Adela

doi:10.1037/0012-1649.35.4.940

Cited by 381 publications

(401 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…A more likely explanation rests on the fact that on 0°trials, although the piece did not have to be rotated, it still had to be mentally moved (for example, in a diagonal translation) to be matched with the hole. A previous study that compared rotational and translational mental transformations in 4-to 6-year-olds (Levine et al 1999) showed that even though translational items were solved significantly more often than rotational items, scores on translational items were far from perfect (on average, 4.41 and 4.66 out of 8 items correct for horizontal and diagonal translations, respectively). Consistent with our results, 5-year-olds performed significantly better than 4-year-olds, providing convergent evidence that there is considerable progression in rotational as well as translational mental transformation abilities during this developmental time period.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Linn and Petersen's meta-analysis did not include children younger than 10 years of age, and three of the four studies listed by Voyer et al with children below the age of 10 found no significant effects of sex on mental rotation (Caldwell and Hall 1970;Jahoda 1979;Kaess 1971). Among more recent studies with young children aged 4 years and older that were not covered by these meta-analyses, some found no sex differences (Estes 1998;Frick et al 2009a;Kosslyn et al 1990;Platt and Cohen 1981), whereas others found higher error rates in boys (Krüger and Krist 2009), or sex differences in older but not in younger children (i.e., younger than 4.5 years of age, Levine et al 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

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Using a touch screen paradigm to assess the development of mental rotation between 3½ and 5½ years of age

2013

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Mental rotation is an important spatial skill. However, there is controversy concerning its early development and susceptibility to intervention. In the present study, we assessed individual differences in the mental rotation abilities of children between 3 and 5 years of age, using a touch screen paradigm to simplify task demands. A figure or its mirror image was presented in 8 different orientations, and children indicated in which of two holes the figure would fit by touching one of the holes on the screen. Task instructions were varied in three conditions, giving the children the opportunity to gather manual or observational experience with rotations of different stimuli, or giving no additional experience. Children's error rates and response times increased linearly with increasing angular disparity between the figure and the hole by the age of 5 years, but 4-year-olds were found to respond at chance for all angular disparities, despite the use of a touch screen paradigm. Both manual and observational experience increased the response accuracy of 5-year-olds, especially for children already performing well. However, there was no effect on 4-year-olds. Results point to an emerging readiness to use mental rotation and profit from observational and manual experience at age 5.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Using a touch screen paradigm to assess the development of mental rotation between 3½ and 5½ years of age

2013

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“…Men and women are apt to choose different solutions, but when they are encouraged to choose one source of information the gender gap of reasoning is narrowed and they tend to perform equally well (Spelke 2005). A few studies have found differences in the preschool years, (1995; Levine, Huttenlocher et al 1999;DeLoache, Uttal et al 2004). Grimshaw, Sitarenios, & Finegan (1995) found a weak relationship between seven-year-old children's mental rotation ability and prenatal testosterone levels.…”

Section: Mental Rotation and Sex Differencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fitting objects into holes: On the development of spatial cognition skills.

Örnkloo¹,

Hofsten²

2007

Developmental Psychology

116

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The authors examined 14-to 26-month-old infants' understanding of the spatial relationships between objects and apertures in an object manipulation task. The task was to insert objects with various cross-sections (circular, square, rectangular, ellipsoid, and triangular) into fitting apertures. A successful solution required the infant to mentally rotate the object to be fit into the aperture and use that information to plan the action. The object was presented standing up in half of the trials; in the other half, it was lying down. The results showed that infants solved the problem consistently from age 22 months and that a successful solution was associated with appropriate preadjustments before the hand arrived with the block to the aperture. No sex differences were found.

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“…Across age and cultures, men outperform women in a range of spatial tasks reflecting that sex differences in spatial abilities are reliable and robust (e.g., Astur, Ortiz & Sutherland, 1998;de Frias, Nilsson & Herlitz, 2006;Herlitz & Kabir, 2006;Thilers, MacDonald & Herlitz, 2006). Levine, Huttenlocher, Taylor & Langrock (1999) showed that boys as young as four and a half years generally performed at a higher level than same-age girls in spatial tasks. In a meta-analysis, Voyer et al, (1995) showed that reliable sex differences for mental rotation tasks were present across all age ranges (d = 0.56).…”

Section: Spatial Abilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Gender in Face Recognition

Rehnman¹

2007

PsycEXTRA Dataset

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-EnglishFaces constitute one of the most important stimuli for humans. Studies show that women recognize more faces than men, and that females are particularly able to recognize female faces, thus exhibiting an own-sex bias. In the present thesis, three empirical studies investigated the generality of sex differences in face recognition and the female own-sex bias. Study I explored men's and women's face recognition performance for Bangladeshi and Swedish female and male faces of adults and children. Result showed sex differences, favoring women, for all face categories. Study II assessed boys' and girls' ability to recognize female and male faces from two age-and ethnic groups. The result demonstrated that girls recognize more faces than boys do, but that no sex differences were present for Swedish male faces. The results from Study I and II consistently demonstrate that females show reliable own-sex biases independent of whether the female faces were young, old, or of Bangladeshi or Swedish origin. In an attempt to explain the mechanisms of sex differences in face recognition and the female own-sex bias, Study III investigated men's and women's recognition performance for androgynous faces, either labeled "men", "women", or "faces". The result showed that women told to remember "women" recognized more faces than women told to remember faces labeled "men" or "faces", and that sex differences were present for androgynous faces, regardless of the label. Based on these findings, it is suggested that females' attention is in particular directed towards other females, resulting in an own-sex bias. It is also suggested that there may be a difference in females' and males' orientation toward other individuals. This difference can have a biological base, which together with socialization may result in sex differences in face recognition.Keywords: Face recognition, Sex differences, Own-sex bias, Own-group bias, Attention, Biology, Socialization, Psychobiosocial Sammanfattning -SvenskaAnsikten utgör troligtvis de allra viktigaste objekten för människors sociala samspel. Forskning visar att kvinnor generellt kommer ihåg fler ansikten än män och att flickor och kvinnor är särskilt bra på att minnas andra kvinnors ansikten -de visar en "own-sex bias". "Own-sex bias" innebär att personer är bättre på att minnas ansikten av individer av samma kön i jämförelse med ansikten av personer av motsatt kön. Ett fåtal tidigare studier har undersökt könsskillnader i ansiktsigenkänning. I avhandlingen undersöks hur allmän-giltig könsskillnad i ansiktsigenkänning är och hur allmängiltig kvinnlig "own-sex bias" är. I Studie I studerades kvinnors och mäns förmåga att minnas bangladeshiska och svenska flick-, pojk-, kvinno-och mansansikten. Resultatet visar att kvinnor minns fler ansikten oavsett kategori. I Studie II undersöktes flickors och pojkars förmåga att minnas bangladeshiska och svenska flick-, pojk-, kvinno-och mansansikten. Resultaten i Studie II replikerar resultaten från Studie I, då flickor kände igen fler ansikten än...

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Early sex differences in spatial skill.

Cited by 381 publications

References 58 publications

Using a touch screen paradigm to assess the development of mental rotation between 3½ and 5½ years of age

Using a touch screen paradigm to assess the development of mental rotation between 3½ and 5½ years of age

Fitting objects into holes: On the development of spatial cognition skills.

The Role of Gender in Face Recognition

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