Interindividual differences in brain dynamics of early visual processes: Impact on score accuracy in the mental rotation task

Interindividual variations in the ability to perform visuospatial mental transformations have been investigated extensively, in particular through mental rotation tasks. However, the impact of early visual processes on performance has been largely ignored. To clarify this issue, we explored the time-course of early visual processing (from 0 to 450 ms poststimulus) using event-related potentials topographic analyses. The main findings demonstrated a significant link between early attentional processes and accuracy scores occurring more than five seconds later, as well as a strong association between spatial covariance and microstate topographies exhibiting substantial gender differences. More specifically, the results indicated that, in a classical mental rotation task, the male brain expends more time processing visual-spatial information resulting in a longer bilateral positive potential at posterior-occipital sites. In comparison, the female brain initiates earlier processing of non-spatial information resulting in a faster transition from a bilateral positive potential of posterior-occipital sites to a negative potential at central-frontal sites. These findings illustrate how a more complete utilization of the spatiotemporal information contained in EEG recordings can provide important insights about the impact of early visual processes on interindividual differences, particularly across gender, and thus shed new light on alternate cognitive strategies.