Gender Differences in Brain Activation on a Mental Rotation Task

ABSTRACT Few neuroimaging studies have explored gender differences on mental rotation tasks. Most studies have utilized samples with both genders, samples mainly consisting of men, or samples with six or fewer females. Graduate students in science fields or liberal arts programs (20 males, 20 female...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of neuroscience 2012-10, Vol.122 (10), p.590-597
Main Authors: Semrud-Clikeman, Margaret, Fine, Jodene Goldenring, Bledsoe, Jesse, Zhu, David C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Brain - physiology
Brain Mapping
Female
fMRI
Functional Laterality - physiology
Functional Neuroimaging
gender
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Imagination - physiology
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
mental rotation
Nerve Net - physiology
Neuropsychological Tests
Rotation
Sex Characteristics
Space Perception - physiology
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Summary:ABSTRACT Few neuroimaging studies have explored gender differences on mental rotation tasks. Most studies have utilized samples with both genders, samples mainly consisting of men, or samples with six or fewer females. Graduate students in science fields or liberal arts programs (20 males, 20 females) completed a mental rotation task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). When a pair of cube figures was shown, the participant made a keypad response based on whether the pair is the same/similar or different. Regardless of gender, the bilateral middle frontal gyrus, bilateral intraparietal sulcus (IPS), and the left precuneus were activated when a subject tried to solve the mental rotation task. Increased activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus/middle frontal gyrus, the left precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex/cuneus region, and the left middle occipital gyrus was found for men as compared to women. Better accuracy and shorter response times were correlated with an increased activation in the bilateral intraparietal sulcus. No significant brain activity differences related to mental rotation were found between academic majors. These findings suggest that networks involved in visual attention appear to be more strongly activated in the mental rotation tasks in men as compared to women. It also suggests that men use a more automatic process when analyzing complex visual reasoning tasks while women use a more top-down process.
ISSN:0020-7454
1563-5279
1543-5245
DOI:10.3109/00207454.2012.693999