Pairwise Presentation of Cube Figures Does Not Reduce Gender Differences in Mental Rotation Performance

Gender differences still are one of the main topics in mental rotation research. Quite a number of different approaches aim to uncover the reasons for the substantial effect sizes observed. In this paper, we focus on the performance factor task complexity, which may contribute to gender differences. A pairwise paper-pencil presentation mode-using the original but rearranged items of the classic MRT by Peters et al. (1995)-was chosen to investigate mental rotation performance of adults. A total of 72 participants were asked to complete a complexity reduced version of the MRT: They had to complete simple "same-different" judgments without any time constraints instead of regular "two-out-of-four-alternatives" choices. Results revealed that the reduction of complexity did not affect the gender differences at all: Men outperformed women in both accuracy and speed. The reasons for these results are discussed.