Effects of Stimulus Color,Pattern, and Practice on Sex Differences in Mental Rotations Task Performance |
| |
| Authors: | Diane E. Alington Russell C. Leaf Joan R. Monaghan |
| |
| Affiliation: | 1. Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research Rutgers University;2. Department of Psychology , Rutgers University;3. Department of Mathematics , County College of Morris , Randolph , NJ |
| |
| Abstract: | Redundant color information improved performance for both sexes on the Shepard Mental Rotations Task (MRT; Shepard & Metzler, 1971). Absolute score gains for women were larger than those for men; therefore, relative improvement was greater. Substantial practice effects, also favoring women, were apparent in both studies. Study 1 showed that redundant color improved performance by 0.25 SD. Study 2 demonstrated that redundant black-and-white pattern information did not have any effect; a second visuospatial channel, redundant color, was a critical factor in improving scores of men and women on difficult mental rotations tasks. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
|
|
