Spatial anxiety and self-confidence mediate sex/gender differences in mental rotation

Arrighi, L.; Hausmann, M.

Abstract

A recent meta−synthesis study with a sample of over 12 million participants revealed that the male advantage in mental rotation (MR) is the largest cognitive sex/gender difference found in psychological literature. MR requires test−takers to mentally rotate three−dimensional cubic figures under time restrictions. Previous studies have investigated how biological and social factors contribute to cognitive sex/gender differences in tasks of this type. Spatial anxiety and self−confidence in MR tasks have received less attention. The present study investigated the contribution of these psychological factors to sex/gender differences in MR performance. Participants (n=269) completed two MR tasks which differed in task difficulty. Participants were also asked to indicated their self−confidence (for each item) and spatial anxiety. The results revealed that pronounced sex/gender differences in spatial anxiety and self−confidence mediate sex/gender in MR performance, especially when task demands are high. The current findings suggest that task−irrelevant factors that are not spatial cognitive in nature contribute largely to the well−known medium to large sex/gender difference in MR. Future studies should further explore mechanisms underlying cognitive sex/gender differences within a biopsychosocial approach.

Citation

Arrighi, L., & Hausmann, M. (2022). Spatial anxiety and self-confidence mediate sex/gender differences in mental rotation. Learning & Memory, 29(9), 312-320. https://doi.org/10.1101/lm.053596.122

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 19, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022-09
• Deposit Date: Jul 19, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 20, 2022
• Journal: Learning and Memory
• Print ISSN: 1072-0502
• Electronic ISSN: 1549-5485
• Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 29
• Issue: 9
• Pages: 312-320
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/lm.053596.122
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1197372
• Publisher URL: https://learnmem.cshlp.org/content/29/9/312.abstract