Mental rotation does not account for sex differences in left-right confusion

Several studies have demonstrated that women believe they are more prone to left-right confusion (LRC) than men. However, while some studies report that there is also a sex difference in LRC tasks favouring men, others report that men and women perform equally well. Recently, it was suggested that sex differences only emerge in LRC tasks when they involve mental rotation. That is, sex differences that are reported for some LRC tasks are strongly affected by the well-documented male advantage in mental rotation. To test this assumption, 91 participants were investigated on two LRC tasks: The Left-Right Commands Task and the Bergen Left-Right Discrimination Test. Additionally, participants were asked to complete an LRC self-rating questionnaire. To rule out the possibility that sex differences in LRC are confounded by sex differences in mental rotation, male and female participants were matched for mental rotation performance, resulting in a sample of 46 matched participants. These matched participants showed robust sex differences in favour of men in all LRC measurements. This suggests that pronounced sex differences in LRC are a genuine phenomenon that exists independently of sex differences in mental rotation.     

A male advantage for spatial and object but not verbal working memory using the n-back task

Sex-related differences have been reported for performance and neural substrates on some working memory measures that carry a high cognitive load, including the popular n-back neuroimaging paradigm. Despite some evidence of a sex effect on the task, the influence of sex on performance represents a potential confound in neuroimaging research. The present study investigated sex-related differences in verbal, spatial, and common object versions of the high cognitive load "n-back" working memory task. Eighteen male and 18 female undergraduates completed all 3 versions of the task. A mixed ANOVA, with Sex (male and female) as the between-subjects factor and Condition (verbal, spatial, and object) as the within-subjects repeated measure revealed that males were significantly more accurate than females on the spatial and object versions of the n-back task and performed equivalently to females on the verbal version of the task. Although the expected female advantage for verbal working memory was not found using this effortful n-back task, these results support a male advantage for high cognitive load spatial and object working memory. Future research should take into account the influence of sex on performance of the n-back task, and examine sex-related differences in working memory using other paradigms.     

A randomized trial to evaluate the course of effects of a program to prevent adolescent depressive symptoms over 12 months

Although few prevention studies have been designed to investigate the course of prevention effects over time, it seems that the effects on depressive symptoms increase from post-intervention to 6-month follow-up but then decrease with longer lags to follow-up. Furthermore, previous prevention studies have found differential intervention effects for boys and girls without testing possible explanations for this effect. The present randomized control group study with 301 8th-grade students examined the effects of a depression prevention program from baseline until 12-month follow-up. As expected, while positive intervention effects were found on girls’ depressive symptoms, no such effects were found on boys’ depressive symptoms. Further, the positive intervention effects on girls’ depressive symptoms increased to the 6-month follow-up and remained stable through the 12-month follow-up, while depression symptoms in control-group girls increased from 6-month to 12-month follow-up. Further exploratory analyses revealed that neither baseline conduct problems nor cognitive or social knowledge of the prevention program at 12-month follow-up alone explained the sex effect. However, some limited evidence was found indicating that total knowledge (cognitive and social) might partially explain the effect but there was significant variability remaining to be explained.     

Measuring implicit attitudes of 4-year-olds: the preschool implicit association test

The Preschool Implicit Association Test (PSIAT) is an adaptation of an established social cognition measure (IAT) for use with preschool children. Two studies with 4-year-olds found that the PSIAT was effective in evaluating (a) attitudes toward commonly liked objects (flowers = good) and (b) gender attitudes (girl = good or boy = good). The gender attitude PSIAT was positively correlated with corresponding explicit attitude measures and also children’s actual sex. The new implicit and explicit measures of gender attitudes demonstrated discriminant validity; each predicted variance in children’s gendered play activities beyond that predicted by the other. Discussion describes potential uses of the PSIAT to investigate development of societally significant attitudes and stereotypes at younger ages than are achievable with currently available methods.     

Digit ratio (2D:4D) and sensation seeking: New data and meta-analysis

Previously reported associations between low (male-typical) digit ratio (2D:4D), a putative pointer to prenatal testosterone exposure, and high (male-typical) sensation seeking have been inconsistent across studies (alternately present for men, women, either sex, or neither). Addressing this question again in three new studies (N = 198, 188, 1118) produced similarly erratic findings. Meta-analysis of the entire literature (13 studies with nearly 3000 individuals, including unpublished accounts) showed that the current cumulative evidence does not support any negative correlations between 2D:4D and sensation seeking traits. The only significant meta-analytical finding was for right-hand 2D:4D and the experience seeking facet of sensation seeking in both sexes, but this effect accounted for merely 0.4% attributable variance, and moreover was directionally opposite to expectation (i.e., a positive correlation). Discussed are inherent limitations of narrow-scoped approaches (such as via 2D:4D) for elucidating the biological bases of individual difference variables with evidentially intricate neurochemical underpinnings (such as sensation seeking).     

Domain-specific anger expression assessment and blood pressure during rest and acute stress

Anger expression has been linked to hypertension, although assessment of anger expression has not accounted for situational influences. We predicted that anger expression style varies across social situations. Two studies assessed reported anger expression in three domains (home, work, and during free time) and compared findings to those obtained using a global assessment. Participants reported expressing anger more openly when at home and they tend to exert greater control when at work. The domain-specific assessment was also more sensitive to sex differences than the general assessment. The second study examined the influence of this domain-specific anger expression assessment on blood pressure (BP) at rest and during acute challenge. In addition to replicating the first study, the second study showed that open anger expression particularly at work was associated with elevated BP. These studies represent a first step towards improving assessment of anger expression and determining how anger might relate to hypertension risk.     

青少年学生体像烦恼现状研究

采用自编的《青少年学生体像烦恼现状调查表》,对3121名大、中学生的形体烦恼、性别烦恼、性器官烦恼和容貌烦恼等进行抽样调查.研究表明:(1)22.3%青少年存在体像烦恼,且女性高于男性;(2)44.0%青少年肥胖指数异常,其中偏瘦的为33.7%,偏胖的为10.3%,前者男性高于女性,后者女性高于男性;(3)7.6%的学生存在形体烦恼,且女性多于男性;(4)8.9%的学生存在性别烦恼,且女性多于男性;(5)5.2%学生存在性器官烦恼,且男性多于女性;(6)5.1%学生存在容貌烦恼,男女之间没有差异.     

What do Raven's Matrices measure? An analysis in terms of sex differences

Although it is sometimes claimed that Raven's Matrices provide an almost pure measure of g, there is evidence that the easier items in the Standard Progressive Matrices and in Set I of the Advanced Matrices measure a perceptual or Gestalt factor distinct from the more analytic items in the rest of the tests. There is also, however, both factor analytic and experimental evidence that these analytic items fall into two partially separate groups, distinguishable by the type of rule needed for their solution in the analysis proposed by Carpenter, Just, and Schell (1990) [Carpenter, P. A., Just, M. A., Schell, P. (1990). What one intelligence test measures: A theoretical account of the processing in the Raven's Progressive Matrices Test. Psychological Review, 97, 404–431]. Re-analysis of published data suggests a new source of evidence for this further distinction: males do better than females on items requiring an addition/subtraction or distribution of two rule, but there is no sex difference on items requiring pairwise progression or distribution of three rules. A specially designed experiment confirmed this pattern of results.     

Sex differences in spatial ability: a lateralization of function approach

The current study was designed to examine whether the extent of the male advantage in performance on a spatial task was determined by the extent to which the task was right-hemisphere dependent. Participants included 108 right-handed men and women who completed the mental rotation, waterlevel, and paperfolding tasks, all of which were presented bilaterally. The results partially supported the hypothesis. On the mental rotation task, men showed a right-hemisphere advantage, whereas women showed no hemispheric differences; however, no overall sex differences were observed. On the waterlevel task, men outperformed women, and both men and women showed a right-hemisphere advantage. On the paperfolding task, no sex or hemispheric differences were observed. Although the findings of the current study were mixed, the study provides a framework for examining sex differences across different types of spatial ability.