Gender And Mental Rotation Essay

Gender differences have been recorded by researches from single neurons in the cell to system level processes (Cahill 2006), and certain scientists proposed that sex hormones influence the development of prefrontal cortex, and this is supposed to be the cause of the differences in working memory performance (Duff & Hampson, 2001). This study further investigated the existence and nature of this gender difference. A sample of 497 Monash University psychology undergraduates (385 females and 112 males; ages 18 – 64) were recruited for this study. Working memory performance was tested with online 'spatial working memory ' test, and 2D:4D finger length ratio was used as an indirect measure of sex hormone levels. The results revealed no sex differences in the working memory performance, but variance in 2D:4D ratio – females had a larger ratio than males. Memory reaction time was negatively correlated with 2D:4D ratio, thus, females had a quicker reaction time.

According to Hetherington and Parke (2002), studies of brain imaging identified that in female bilateralism there were greater amounts of blood flow. The male brain reflects greater lateralization attributing to a higher success rate in spatial tasks and mathematics.

In her scientific work Sex Differences in the Brain Kimura analysis several key differences that cause men and women to excel in various tasks and jobs due to naturally occurring phenomenon in the body and

The SAT is an exam taken by high school sophomores, juniors and seniors, it measures literacy, writing and math skills that are needed to succeed in college. Male students have been viewed as benefiting from the math section of the SAT. “One test that has played a particularly important role in the impression that male students possess more math ability than female students is the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)” (Byrnes and Takahira., 1995). The authors focused on one question throughout their research they wanted to understand if the gender difference in the SAT were because male students perform cognitive questions more successfully than girls. Male students had the correct approach to answer math questions, they answered the questions in a specific

Other explanations for the variations include a large amount of estrogen hormones in females, which is the primary reason for the differences in the parts of a woman’s brain. According to Bruce Goldman, a science writer for the Stanford Medical School’s Office of Communication and Public Affairs, a woman’s hippocampus, a region of the brain that processes most learning and memorization, is generally bigger than a man’s and functions in a distinctive way. Better learning and memorization skills are especially important when it comes to schooling, which explains why every two men who earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2010 were matched by three women achieving the same (Rosin 306). This is not the only variations between the brains of each gender; the corpus callosum, the white matter in the center of the brain that helps the left and right lobe “talk” to each other, is larger in females, thus the reason that womens’ brains unfailingly show stronger communication between hemispheres (Goldman). Activity between these halves are important for speech as well as comprehension. Different sizes of different parts of the brain are part of the reason why women are biologically more capable in certain fields of work than men.

Discrepancies in Activated Brain Regions. While there are many overlaps in the cognitive processes involved in both mental rotation and sign language, resulting in similar brain activation patterns, many researchers still dispute over which cortical regions are activated during these tasks. For example, while many studies have reported right parietal cortex activation during mental rotation (Lane et al., 2011; Harris et al., 2000), Alivisatos and Petrides (1997) reported activation of the left posterior-superior parietal cortex during mental rotation tasks proportional to the angle discrepancy between the two rotated objects. In addition, contradicting the results of these studies suggesting lateralization of spatial abilities, Carpenter et

An experiment at the University of California, Los Angeles proved interesting when a machine taught both boys and girls. The boys ended up scoring higher than when a woman taught them. I am wondering if girls scored higher than the boys did when male teachers teach them? I also wonder how the girls scored when taught by a machine; maybe they scored higher, too. At the secondary school level boys do perform better on technical or scientific subjects. Now this goes back to the first assumption that our brains work differently, or is it because more male teachers may teach these subjects? According to Mooney, teacher of the similar sex may have the "instinctive understanding that an adult will enjoy with a child who is going through a process which he or she went through too" (122). In other words, they can relate better with a child of the same sex. I am a female kindergarten teacher and also have a daughter who is six years old. I have no problem relating to the boys in my class. I think I can relate to any child who is five or six years old.

The brain’s executive processes are generated in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which develops the thought process for solving problems and critical thinking. Also, the “prefrontal cortex is continuously communicating with many other parts of the brain in order to see, read, and comprehend” (Willis & Mitchell, 2014). There are six steps as to how the executive process works: Analyze a task (figure out what needs to be done), plan on how to handle the task, organize, figure out how much time is needed to complete the task, make adjustments, and finish the task in the time allotted. According to Virginia Bonomo, “research has established that the male brain is on average 10 to 15 percent larger and heavier than the female brain. However, in addition to size, differences in the autonomy of the brain are present across genders” (Bonomo,

As we all know, women and men are very different, exteriorly and interiorly. Our brains are wired differently, we process information differently, we react differently. Due to this fact, we multitask differently. Society normally says women have the upper hand when it comes to doing more than one thing at a time, and a lot of experiments can prove that statement to be true. In fact, I read quite a few that claimed that result but one specific example is an experiment I read on the Daily Mail website. Scientists in England conducted an experiment with 1,000 young men and women. They scanned each individual’s brain in an MRI machine and showed the differences. Females have stronger connections between the right and left sides of their

There are many theories and approaches to gender in terms of biology and science in general, which aim to suggest or prove that gender is natural and inherent. The first of these is the effect of hormones, more specifically testosterone, which causes male behaviour patterns such as aggression, competitiveness and a higher sexual drive. Testosterone also helps in the development of the brain. The brain is divided into two hemispheres, a left and a right. The left side of the brain is specialised in language skills whereas the right hand side of the brain is used for more non-verbal such as spatial awareness skills. Shaywitz et al (1995) used MRI scans to examine the brain whilst males and females carried out language tasks of varying difficulties. It was found that females used both hemispheres of the brain to complete the task whereas males only used the

Well, maybe it’s just because they are, or because of the enhanced memory and social cognition skills. This is saying we remember stuff better than the male part of our species. The males have higher local functional connectivity, while females have a more broad functional connectivity. Females have more between-hemispheric connectivity and cross-module participation predominated in females. That means that females are better at thinking things out or as people call it “seeing the different colors of the world, in shades of gray.” So, in technicalities, females have superior intellect. (Woolley et al., n.d., p.

Glass begins with a prearranged true-false quiz which shows how many of our preconceived biases about differences between the sexes and how they communicate are actually false (Glass, 1994). Glass (1994) states that women are not statistically shown to be more intuitive than men. However, they have been discovered to be more detail oriented in both their

Knowing the differences in the brain begins to give some understanding on how and why females and males learn differently. There are many basic differences in learning. Like stated previously females are better at verbal skills which makes them better at reading and writing and causes them to use words as they learn, and males are better

​Women maintain superiority in the following STM-related skillsets: facial recognition, verbal memory, and multi-tasking. In an experiment conducted by Knox et al., men and women were asked to examine a "virtual room" that featured photographs of faces hanging on each wall (2). Upon exiting, they were then asked to match the photos to their corresponding places on the walls of the virtual room; the men averaged 21.2% accuracy, while the women averaged 61.1% accuracy (Knox et al. 2). These results provide adequate justification as to why women are more adept at remembering things such as the location of the car keys, and identifying familiar faces in a crowd ("Sex Differences in Memory").

The right hemisphere (Male) is the one that usually deals with visual-spatial tasks. Female who tend to be quicker at tasks involving language processing have been called left-brained. One theory that explains the gender differences in spatial abilities is hunter-gatherer theory of the origin of sex-specific spatial attributes. This view holds that men and women have different cognitive abilities appropriate to their sex roles in their prehistoric lifestyles. Prehistoric females (i.e. gatherers) who had to forage for food and keep track of objects, locations and landmarks near their homes were more successful at acquiring resources for bearing and raising offspring. Males (i.e. hunters) who were better able to travel in unfamiliar territory, estimate distance, and navigate with an eye view orientation were more successful at hunting, competing with other males, finding mates, and having children.