User:Ingrid WAGNON/sandbox

Gender and mental rotation

Different studies have shown that there is a difference between male and female in mental rotation tasks.

In order to explain this difference we can look at the brain activation during a mental rotation task. In 2012 a study have been done on people that graduated in Sciences or in Liberal Art. Males and females were asked to execute a mental rotation task, and their brain activity was recorded thanks to an fMRI. The researchers found a difference of brain activation : males present a stronger activity in the area of the brain used in a mental rotation task.

We can be interested in when this difference occurs between male and female in a mental rotation task. A study from 2008 showed that this difference occurs really early during the development. The experiment was done on 3 to 4 months old infants using a 2D mental rotation task. They used a preference apparatus that consists of observing during how much time the infant is looking at the stimulus. They started by familiarizing the participants with the number “1” and its rotations. Then they showed them a picture of a “1” rotated and its mirror image. The study showed that males are more interested by the mirror image. Females are equally interested by the “1” rotated and its mirror image. That means that male and female process mental rotation differently.

Another study from 2015 was focused on women and their abilities in a mental rotation task and in an emotion recognition task. In this experiment, they induced a feeling or a situation in which women feel more powerful or less powerful. They were able to conclude that women in a situation of power are better in a mental rotation task (but less performant in an emotion recognition task) than other women. This encourages us to think about the role of our social position on our capacities.

Studying differences between male and female brain can have very interesting applications. For example it could help in the understanding of the autism spectrum disorders.

One of the theories concerning the Autism is the EMB (Extreme Male Brain). This theory considers that autist have an “extreme male brain”. In a study from 2015, researchers confirmed that there is a difference between male and female in mental rotation task (by studying people without autism) : Males are more successful. Then they highlighted the fact that autists do not have this “male performance” in a mental rotation task. They conclude their study by “autistic people do not have an extreme version of a male cognitive profile as proposed by the EMB theory”.