Experiential Factors in Sex Differences on Mental Rotation

Cherney, Isabelle D.; Jagarlamudi, Kavita; Lawrence, Erika; Shimabuku, Nicole

doi:10.2466/pms.2003.96.3c.1062

Cited by 17 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 37 publications

(26 reference statements)

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“…Boys tend to spend significantly more time than girls in spatial activities (Cherney & London, 2006) and may thus benefit from these experiences more than girls. Several studies have examined the importance of spatial experiences on visuospatial skills (e.g., Voyer, Nolan, & Voyer, 2000;Cherney, Jagarlamudi, Lawrence, & Shimabuku, 2003). For example, Terlecki, Newcombe, and Little (2008) as well as Cherney (2008) showed that training and practice with videogames can eliminate visuospatial sex differences, suggesting that spatial skills can be learned.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex Differences in Effects of Testing Medium and Response Format on a Visuospatial Task

Cherney

Rendell

2010

Percept Mot Skills

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Sex differences on visuospatial tests are among the most reliably replicated. It is unclear to what extent these performance differences reflect underlying differences in skills or testing factors. To assess whether testing medium and response format affect visuospatial sex differences, performances of introductory psychology students (100 men, 104 women) were examined on a visuospatial task presented in paper-and-pencil and tablet computer forms. Both sexes performed better when tested on paper, although men outperformed women. The introduction of an open-ended component to the visuospatial task eliminated sex differences when prior spatial experiences were controlled, but men outperformed women when prior spatial experiences were not considered. In general, the open-ended version and computerized format of the test diminished performance, suggesting that response format and medium are testing factors that influence visuospatial abilities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex Differences in Effects of Testing Medium and Response Format on a Visuospatial Task

Cherney

Rendell

2010

Percept Mot Skills

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“…MR performance is influenced by both circulating sex hormones (Aleman, Bronk, Kessels, Koppeschaar, & van Honk, 2004;Hampson, 2018;Hausmann, Slabbekoorn, Van Goozen, Cohen-Kettenis, & Güntürkün, 2000) and exposure to sex hormones early in development (Alexander & Son, 2007;Falter, Arroyo, & Davis, 2006;Grimshaw, Sitarenios, & Finegan, 1995). In addition, numerous studies have demonstrated that MR performance can be improved with training (Baenninger & Newcombe, 1989;Cherney, Jagarlamudi, Lawrence, & Shimabuku, 2003;Fernández-Méndez, Contreras, & Elosúa, 2018;Sanz de Acedo Lizarraga & García Ganuza, 2003). These studies provide evidence for both biological and environmental influences on MR, and they raise vital questions about the influences of hormones and experiences on development of MR.…”

Section: Mental Rotation Of 3d Objectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial thinking in infancy: Origins and development of mental rotation between 3 and 10 months of age

Johnson

Moore

2020

Cogn. Research

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Mental rotation (MR) is the ability to transform a mental representation of an object so as to accurately predict how the object would look from a different angle (Sci 171:701-703, 1971), and it is involved in a number of important cognitive and behavioral activities. In this review we discuss recent studies that have examined MR in infants and the development of MR across the first year after birth. These studies have produced many conflicting results, yet several tentative conclusions can be reached. First, MR may be operational in infants as young as 3 months of age. Second, there may be sex differences in MR performance in infancy, in general favoring males, as there are in children and in adults. Third, there appear to be multiple influences on infants' MR performance, including infants' motor activity, stimulus or task complexity, hormones, and parental attitudes. We conclude by calling for additional research to examine more carefully the causes and consequences of MR abilities early in life.

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“…In a third study, 5 ½ hours of video game play erased the sex difference (De Lisi and Wolford 2002). In a fourth, just two minutes of practice before the test erased the different performance levels of men and women (Cherney et al 2003).…”

Section: Brain ⁄ Environment Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The New Science of Sex Difference

Wade

2013

Sociology Compass

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While scientists across the academy have abandoned the nature ⁄ nurture dichotomy, evidence for the influences of society on our biology is greater than ever. This article reviews new developments in the biological sciences -in the sub-fields of genetics, hormones, and neuroscience -with special attention to the implications for sociologists interested in gender. The article closes with an argument that embracing these developments has both theoretical and methodological promise and can enhance rather than harm research and activism regarding gender equality and other social hierarchies.… any living cell carries with it the experience of a billion years of experimentation by its ancestors. You cannot expect to explain so wise an old bird in a few simple words. -Max Delbrück (1949a,b) In the early 1800s a French biologist named Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, working on the question of what would someday be called ''evolution,'' proposed that individual animals could pass on acquired as well as inherited traits to their offspring (Bowler 2003). That is, adjustments an organism made to its environment during its life could somehow appear in the biological building blocks of the next generation. His most famous example involved the neck of the giraffe, a feature that bewildered early scientists. Lamarck theorized that each generation of giraffes stretched their neck to reach higher and higher leaves, passing on a slightly longer neck than they had inherited themselves. Likewise, Lamarck speculated, the traits that humans developed over the course of their lives could be inherited by their children. For example, if a man became strong, his children would be born with a greater predisposition for large muscles; if a woman became educated, she would pass onto her children heightened intellectual potential.After Darwin, this model of evolution fell out of favor. In its place was the theory of natural selection: evolution works not through organisms actively responding to the environment, but through random genetic variation and the failure of the maladapted to reproduce. The idea that we could change our genes during our lives and pass on a different genome than the one we inherited came to seem laughably naïve.Emerging research now suggests that Lamarck was onto something. Indeed, our understanding of biology and its relationship to the phenomena of interest to sociologists -cultural ideas, social interaction, and social structures -is undergoing a paradigmatic change (Silverman 2004;Strohman 1997). In this essay I review three biological bases of sex difference and similarity -genes, hormones, and brains -and explore the new research that shows how each mechanism interacts with the socio-cultural context. I conclude by joining the call to reorient our relationship to the life sciences (e.g., Bearman 2008;Franks 2010;Freese et al. 2003;Mazur 2005;Udry 1995). These developments should inspire us to further develop research programs that take advantage of the interaction of biology Sociology Compass 7/4 (2013):

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Experiential Factors in Sex Differences on Mental Rotation

Cited by 17 publications

References 37 publications

Sex Differences in Effects of Testing Medium and Response Format on a Visuospatial Task

Sex Differences in Effects of Testing Medium and Response Format on a Visuospatial Task

Spatial thinking in infancy: Origins and development of mental rotation between 3 and 10 months of age

The New Science of Sex Difference

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