A large sex difference on a two-dimensional mental rotation task

被引:197
作者
Collins, DW
Kimura, D
机构
[1] Department of Psychol Ogy, University of Western Ontario, London, Ont.
[2] Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London
关键词
D O I
10.1037/0735-7044.111.4.845
中图分类号
B84 [心理学]; C [社会科学总论]; Q98 [人类学];
学科分类号
03 ; 0303 ; 030303 ; 04 ; 0402 ;
摘要
Mental rotation tests require participants to identify rotated versions of a target stimulus. The Vandenberg Mental Rotations Test depicts potations in 3-D space and typically yields one of the largest established cognitive sex differences favoring males. It is presently unclear whether this male advantage is related to the nature of rotations depicted in 3-D space or to the high level of difficulty of this task. The present study developed a new test depicting picture plane, or 2-D, rotations. When task difficulty within this 2-D rest was varied, a male advantage as large as that seen on the Vandenberg test was found for the difficult component. These findings suggest that processing in 3 dimensions is not a necessary condition for a large sex difference on tests of mental rotation.
引用
收藏
页码:845 / 849
页数:5
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