Sex differences on the judgment of line orientation task: A function of landmark presence and hormonal status

It has been well-established that men outperform women on some spatial tasks. The tools commonly used to demonstrate this difference (e.g. The Mental Rotations Task) typically involve problems and solutions that are presented in a context devoid of referents. The study presented here assessed whether the addition of referents (or “landmarks”) would attenuate the well-established sex difference on the judgment of line orientation task (JLOT). Three versions of the JLOT were presented in a within design. The first iteration contained the original JLOT (JLOT 1). JLOT 2 contained three “landmarks” or referents and JLOT 3 contained only one landmark. The sex difference on JLOT 1 was completely negated by the addition of three landmarks on JLOT 2 or the addition of one landmark on JLOT3. In addition, salivary testosterone was measured. In men, gains in performance on the JLOT due to the addition of landmarks were positively correlated with testosterone levels. This suggests that men with the highest testosterone levels benefited the most from the addition of landmarks. These data help to highlight different strategies used by men and women to solve spatial tasks.     

Sex differences on the judgment of line orientation task: a function of landmark presence and hormonal status

It has been well-established that men outperform women on some spatial tasks. The tools commonly used to demonstrate this difference (e.g. The Mental Rotations Task) typically involve problems and solutions that are presented in a context devoid of referents. The study presented here assessed whether the addition of referents (or "landmarks") would attenuate the well-established sex difference on the judgment of line orientation task (JLOT). Three versions of the JLOT were presented in a within design. The first iteration contained the original JLOT (JLOT 1). JLOT 2 contained three "landmarks" or referents and JLOT 3 contained only one landmark. The sex difference on JLOT 1 was completely negated by the addition of three landmarks on JLOT 2 or the addition of one landmark on JLOT3. In addition, salivary testosterone was measured. In men, gains in performance on the JLOT due to the addition of landmarks were positively correlated with testosterone levels. This suggests that men with the highest testosterone levels benefited the most from the addition of landmarks. These data help to highlight different strategies used by men and women to solve spatial tasks.     

心理旋转中的性别差异及其原因

心理旋转是一种想象自我或者客体旋转的空间认知能力,是一种评定空间智能的重要标尺。在不同刺激下的心理旋转任务中,两性的表现随着刺激物的变化而有所不同。就最近的国外有关不同刺激物下的心理旋转的性别差异及其原因进行综述。     

Comparable fMRI activity with differential behavioural performance on mental rotation and overt verbal fluency tasks in healthy men and women

To explicate the neural correlates of sex differences in visuospatial and verbal fluency tasks, we examined behavioural performance and blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) regional brain activity, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, during a three-dimensional (3D) mental rotation task and a compressed sequence overt verbal fluency task in a group of healthy men (n=9) and women (n=10; tested during the low-oestrogen phase of the menstrual cycle). Men outperformed women on the mental rotation task, and women outperformed men on the verbal fluency task. For the mental rotation task, men and women activated areas in the right superior parietal lobe and the bilateral middle occipital gyrus in association with the rotation condition. In addition, men activated the left middle temporal gyrus and the right angular gyrus. For verbal fluency, men activated areas in the bilateral superior frontal gyrus, right cingulate gyrus, left precentral gyrus, left medial frontal gyrus, left inferior frontal gyrus, thalamus, left parahippocampal gyrus and bilateral lingual gyrus, and women activated areas in the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus and left caudate. Despite observing task related activation in the hypothesised areas in men and women, no areas significantly differentiated the two sexes. Our results demonstrate comparable brain activation in men and women in association with mental rotation and verbal fluency function with differential performance, and provide support for sex differences in brain–behaviour relationships.     

The mental rotation task performance of Turner syndrome subjects

Thirty-one female subjects with Turner syndrome (TS) and 31 normal females matched for age and verbal IQ were given a spatial task requiring the mental rotation of geometric figures. The results revealed a poorer performance by the TS group for most items involving rotations. The relationship between reaction time and angular distance on the rotation task was linear for both groups, with the TS group being significantly slower in the slope component of the relationship. The findings are discussed in terms of the mechanisms underlying the spatial deficiencies of TS subjects.     

Two- and three-dimensional mental rotation tasks lead to different parietal laterality for men and women

Thirty-two college students (16 male, 16 female) had EEG recorded during computerized two- and three-dimensional mental rotation tasks. The simple two-dimensional mental rotation task was associated with more left parietal than right parietal activation in men and more right parietal than left parietal activation in women. The complex three-dimensional mental rotation task was associated with greater right parietal than left parietal activation in both men and women. Men performed better than women on the three-dimensional task and there were no differences between men and women on the two-dimensional task. It was concluded that men and women may be using different neurological strategies on two- and three-dimensional mental rotation tasks.     

Cerebral laterality differences in handedness: a mental rotation study with NIRS

Spatial cognition is right-hemisphere dominant in right-handers, but hemispheric laterality in left-handers is not fully understood. Using near-infrared spectroscopy, we compared cerebral activations in the frontal and parietal lobes during a mental rotation task between seven healthy right-handed and seven healthy left-handed women. Cerebral laterality during the spatial cognition task was evaluated as balance in the extent of activation areas between the two cerebral hemispheres, using the right-hemispheric dominance index (RI). RIs of right-handers showed right-hemispheric dominance (RI>0) in both frontal (RI=0.31+/-0.25) and parietal (RI=0.28+/-0.37) lobes, while left-handers showed slight left-hemispheric dominance (RI<0) in both frontal (RI=-0.13+/-0.18) and parietal (RI=-0.22+/-0.22) lobes. The left-handers exhibited significantly larger amplitudes of activation at the channels overlying the left-superior parietal lobule, whereas the right-handers did not show such amplitude differences. These findings suggest a difference in cerebral hemispheric laterality for spatial cognition between left- and right-handers.     

The effects of age and sex on mental rotation performance,verbal performance,and brain electrical activity

This study examined the effects of age and sex on mental rotation performance, verbal performance, and brain-wave activity. Thirty-two 8-year-olds (16 boys) and 32 college students (16 men) had EEG recorded at baseline and while performing four computerized tasks: a two-dimensional (2D) gingerbread man mental rotation, a 2D alphanumeric mental rotation, of three-dimensional (3D) basketball player mental rotation, and lexical decision making. Additionally, participants completed a paper- and pencil water level task and an oral verbal fluency task. On the 2D alphanumeric and 3D basketball player mental rotation tasks, men performed better than boys, but the performance of women and girls did not differ. On the water level task, men performed better than women whereas there was no difference between boys and girls. No sex differences were found on the 2D gingerbread man mental rotation, lexical decision-making, and verbal fluency tasks. EEG analyses indicated that men exhibited left posterior temporal activation during the 2D alphanumeric task and that men and boys both exhibited greater left parietal activation than women and girls during the 2D gingerbread man task. On the 3D basketball player mental rotation task, all participants exhibited greater activation of the right parietal area than the left parietal area. These data give insight into the brain activity and cognitive development changes that occur between childhood and adulthood.     

Heroin impairs map-picture-following and memory tasks dependent on gender and orientation of the tasks

Male and female heroin-dependent patients (HDPs) matched with "normal" people were tested on 4 topographical orientation tasks: schematic map-following, map-memory, schematic picture-following, and picture-memory tasks. The results showed that, in general, female HDPs demonstrated greater performance deficits in map-following and map-picture-memory tasks than did other participants. In the map-picture-following tasks, participants showed a preference for turning right versus turning left, reflected by lower correct scores and longer latencies in completing left-oriented tasks. In contrast, no difference in orientation preference was found for participants in memory tasks, except for female HDPs. Asymmetric dopamine receptor distribution in the brain, sex steroidal hormone, brain areas related to motor functioning and working memory, and gender-dependent lateralization may be involved in the different effects of heroin and rightward bias between men and women.     

Mental rotation performance: Age,sex, and visual field differences

Eighteen young (17–23 years) and 18 older (66–79 years) adults performed a mental rotation task under lateralized viewing conditions to compare the generalized versus right hemisphere decline hypothesis of neuropsychological aging. Although older adults exhibited slower reaction times and less accuracy than younger adults, visual field patterns were independent of age and sex. There was no evidence to indicate a selective decline with age in left hemisphere or right hemisphere processing ability during mental rotation performance. These results support the hypothesis that hemispheric changes in processing with age are not selective but are generalized across both hemispheres.     

Sex differences on a mental rotation task: variations in electroencephalogram hemispheric activation between children and college students

The area of cognitive research that has produced the most consistent sex differences is spatial ability. In particular, men usually perform better on mental rotation tasks than women. Performance on mental rotation tasks has been associated with right parietal activation levels, both during task performance and prior to performance during baseline recordings. This study examined the relations among sex, age, electroencephalogram (EEG) hemispheric activation (at the 10.5 Hz to 13.5 Hz frequency band), and 2-D mental rotation task ability. Nineteen 8-year-olds (10 boys) and 20 college students (10 men) had EEG recorded at baseline and while performing a mental rotation task. Men had a faster reaction time on the mental rotation task than women, whereas there were no differences between boys and girls. After covarying for baseline EEG power values, men exhibited more activation (lower EEG power values) than women in the parietal and posterior temporal regions, whereas boys' and girls' power values did not differ in the parietal or posterior temporal regions. Furthermore, during the baseline condition, men generally exhibited more activation (lower EEG power values) throughout all regions of the scalp. Results support the hypothesis that a change that affects both brain activation and performance on mental rotation tasks occurs sometime between childhood and adulthood.     

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.     

Gender differences in thermal comfort and mental performance at different vertical air temperatures

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a thermal environment where air temperature closer to the ground was lower compared to that above on thermal comfort and mental performance in both sexes. Temperatures at the upper and lower parts of the body were controlled independently using a climatic box placed in a climatic chamber. Sixteen healthy subjects (8 males and 8 females) were exposed to the four conditions with various temperature differences between the upper (25°C) and lower part of the body (16, 19, 22, or 25°C). Skin temperature and subjective votes were measured, and two kinds of task using a computer were performed during exposure. Skin temperature on the back for females was higher than that for males during exposure, and the decrease in thigh skin temperature for females under lower air temperature conditions was significantly larger than that for males. A significant difference in thermal comfort at the beginning of the exposure was indicated between genders, especially in the 16 and 19°C conditions, so females became aware of thermal discomfort before males. Although the score of mental performance based on perceptual speed for females was higher than that for males, there was no significant effect from the different vertical air temperatures. The effect of the unequal thermal environment, where air temperature closer to the ground was lower than above, on skin temperature and thermal discomfort for females was significantly higher compared to males.     

Effects of mental tasks on the cardiorespiratory synchronization

The cardiovascular and respiratory systems are functionally related to each other, but it is unclear if the cerebral cortex can affect their interaction. The effect of a mental task on the synchronization between cardiovascular and respiratory systems was investigated in the article. Electroencephalogram (EEG), electrocardiogram (ECG) and respiratory signal (RES) were collected from 29 healthy male subjects during the mental arithmetic (MA) task and the synchrogram was used to estimate the strength of cardiorespiratory synchronization. Our results showed that MA task significantly increased the breath rate, the heart rate and the EEG power spectral energy in theta band at FC3, FC4 and C4 electrodes (p < 0.01), decreased the duration of cardiorespiratory synchronization epochs (p < 0.05). Moreover the duration of cardiorespiratory synchronization epochs during MA task was negatively correlated with the EEG power spectral energy in theta band at FC3, FC4 and C4 electrodes and the sympathetic activity (p < 0.05). The results demonstrated that ANS and cerebral cortex are implicated in the changes of cardiorespiratory synchronization during MA task.     

Different mental rotation strategies reflected in the rotation related negativity

In a mental rotation task of objects, typically, reaction time (RT) increases and the rotation related negativity (RRN) increases in amplitude with increasing angles of rotation. However, in a mental rotation task of hands, different RT profiles can be observed for outward and inward rotated hands. In the present study, we examined the neurophysiological correlates of these asymmetries in the RT profiles. We used a mental rotation task with stimuli of left and right hands. In line with previous studies, the behavioral results showed a linear increase in RT for outward rotations, but not for inward rotations as a function of angular disparity. Importantly, the ERP results revealed an RRN for outward rotated stimuli, but not for inward rotated stimuli. This is the first study to show that the behaviorally observed differences in a mental rotation task of hands is also reflected at the neurophysiological level.     

A voxel-by-voxel parametric fMRI study of motor mental rotation: hemispheric specialization and gender differences in neural processing efficiency

Differences between men and women in brain size, cognitive performance and lateralization of brain activation have been perennial and controversial issues. Here we show that in a motor mental rotation task where women and men performed equally well, the slope of the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal per degree of mental rotation was overall 2.4× higher in men than in women. This was attributed to the much more inefficient engagement (i.e. higher slopes) of the right hemisphere by men (mainly the frontal lobe). These findings indicate that women process information much more efficiently than men, which could offset smaller brain size.     

Variance differences in asymmetry scores on bilateral versus unilateral tasks

Abstract

Kim and Levine (1991a) report that the correlations between subjects' asymmetry scores on left- and right-hemisphere specialised tasks are more positive when stimuli are presented bilaterally than when they are presented unilaterally (asymmetry scores computed as R-L for both tasks). This larger positive correlation may reflect the greater sensitivity of bilateral presentation to individual differences in non-stimulus-specific perceptual asymmetry, referred to in this paper as “characteristic perceptual asymmetry.” If this is the case, variance in subjects' asymmetry scores on bilaterally presented tasks should be greater than on unilaterally presented tasks, reflecting the contribution of individual differences in characteristic perceptual asymmetry as an additional source of variance. The findings reported in this paper are consistent with this hypothesis. That is, a re-analysis of relevant data reported in the literature shows that for both visual and auditory laterality tasks, variance in asymmetry scores is significantly greater under conditions of bilateral than unilateral stimulation. Similarities between the differential effect of bilateral vs. unilateral stimulation in normal subjects and the clinical finding that “hemi-inattention” following unilateral brain damage is more readily observed with bilateral than unilateral stimulation are discussed.