A lateralization of function approach to sex differences in spatial ability: A reexamination

Rilea, Stacy

doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2008.01.001

Cited by 36 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Firstly, reaction times were faster for back-facing than front-facing pictures (see also e.g., Arzy et al, 2007; Mohr et al, 2010, in press; Thakkar and Park, 2010; Cooper and Mohr, 2012) indicating that participants performed mental transformations. This finding is in line with previous reports regarding the mental rotation of objects (Shepard and Metzler, 1971; Wohlschläger and Wohlschläger, 1998), body parts (Cooper and Shepard, 1975; Parsons, 1987; Bonda et al, 1995; Petit et al, 2003; Seurinck et al, 2004), and perspective taking tasks (e.g., Kaiser et al, 2008; Rilea, 2008) which report longer reaction times when the position of a stimulus (or own current body position) does not match the position of the target stimulus. Moreover, mental perspective transformations for female figures were faster than those for male figures, an advantage that was specific to back-facing figures, supporting previous observations (see Mohr et al, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Men perform comparably to women in a perspective taking task after administration of intranasal oxytocin but not after placebo

Theodoridou¹,

Rowe²,

Möhr³

2013

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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Oxytocin (OT) is thought to play an important role in human interpersonal information processing and behavior. By inference, OT should facilitate empathic responding, i.e., the ability to feel for others and to take their perspective. In two independent double-blind, placebo-controlled between-subjects studies, we assessed the effect of intranasally administered OT on affective empathy and perspective taking, whilst also examining potential sex differences (e.g., women being more empathic than men). In study 1, we provided 96 participants (48 men) with an empathy scenario and recorded self-reports of empathic reactions to the scenario, while in study 2, a sample of 120 individuals (60 men) performed a computerized implicit perspective taking task. Whilst results from Study 1 showed no influence of OT on affective empathy, we found in Study 2 that OT exerted an effect on perspective taking ability in men. More specifically, men responded faster than women in the placebo group but they responded as slowly as women in the OT group. We conjecture that men in the OT group adopted a social perspective taking strategy, such as did women in both groups, but not men in the placebo group. On the basis of results across both studies, we suggest that self-report measures (such as used in Study 1) might be less sensitive to OT effects than more implicit measures of empathy such as that used in Study 2. If these assumptions are confirmed, one could infer that OT effects on empathic responses are more pronounced in men than women, and that any such effect is best studied using more implicit measures of empathy rather than explicit self-report measures.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Men perform comparably to women in a perspective taking task after administration of intranasal oxytocin but not after placebo

Theodoridou¹,

Rowe²,

Möhr³

2013

Front. Hum. Neurosci.

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“…The present findings, however, showed the opposite. Previous studies comparing the sexes on comparable versions of the 3PP‐task showed no sex difference (Mohr et al , 2006; Rilea, 2008), pointed to a male advantage (Ofte, 2002), in particular when of young age (Ofte & Hugdahl, 2002), did not test for sex differences (Arzy et al , 2006, Expt 2; Bailey et al , 2007; Blanke et al , 2005; Easton et al , 2009), or tested only male participants (Arzy et al , 2006, Expt 1, 2007; Zacks et al , 1999). So, although most relevant studies either did not find or did not examine sex differences, the two that did point to a male advantage in the 3PP‐task; in line with the present findings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

The influence of sex and empathy on putting oneself in the shoes of others

Möhr

Rowe

Blanke

2010

British J of Psychology

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We tested whether putting oneself in the shoes of others is easier for women, possibly as a function of individuals' empathy levels, and whether any sex difference might be modulated by the sex of presented figures. Participants (N ¼ 100, 50 women) imagined (a) being in the spatial position of front-facing and back-facing female and male figures (third person perspective (3PP) task) and (b) that the figures were their own mirror reflections (first person perspective (1PP) task). After mentally taking the figure's position, individuals decided whether the indicated hand of the figure would be their own left or right hand. Contrary to our hypothesis, results from the 3PP-task showed higher rotational costs for women than men, suggesting that mental rotation rather than social strategies had been employed. However, faster responding by women with higher empathy scores would appear to indicate that some women engaged social perspective taking strategies irrespective of the figures' position. Figures' sex was relevant to task performance as higher rotational costs were observed for male figures in the 3PP-task for both sexes and for female figures in the 1PP-task for women. We argue that these latter findings indicate that performance was facilitated and/or inhibited towards figures associated with specific social and emotional implications.

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“…These findings are not surprising in light of literature supporting bilateral distribution of complex cognitive functions in females. Females show greater bilateral activation and interhemispheric connectivity than males in language functions, assessment of beauty, and spatial processing (Bitan, Lifshitz, Breznitz, & Booth, 2010; Gur et al, 2000; McGlone, 1980; Rilea, 2008). Additionally, recent data from Ingalhalikar et al (2014) examining diffusion-based structural connectomes suggest that female brains are optimized for interhemispheric (rather than intrahemispheric) communication.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hemispheric side of damage influences sex-related differences in smoking cessation in neurological patients

Gaznick

Bechara

Tranel

2014

Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology

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Patterns of smoking behavior vary between the sexes. There is evidence that decision-making, which is one of the key “executive functions” necessary for making life-style modifications such as smoking cessation, is relatively lateralized to the right hemisphere in males and left hemisphere in females. In the current study, we examined whether the side of brain lesion has a differential effect on smoking behavior between the sexes. We hypothesized sex differences in smoking cessation based on lesion side. Participants were 49 males and 50 females who were smoking at the time of lesion onset. The outcome variable was abstinence from smoking (quit rate) at least one year post lesion. We found that in patients with left hemisphere damage, quit rates were significantly higher in males than in females; however, in patients with right hemisphere damage, quit rates were not statistically different. The findings support previous cognitive neuroscience literature showing that components of behavior responsible for maintaining addiction tend to be more strongly lateralized in males, whereas in females there is a more bilateral distribution. Our study provides further evidence for differences in lateralization of complex behavior between the sexes, which has significant implications for differences in treatment strategies between the sexes.

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A lateralization of function approach to sex differences in spatial ability: A reexamination

Cited by 36 publications

References 35 publications

Men perform comparably to women in a perspective taking task after administration of intranasal oxytocin but not after placebo

Men perform comparably to women in a perspective taking task after administration of intranasal oxytocin but not after placebo

The influence of sex and empathy on putting oneself in the shoes of others

Hemispheric side of damage influences sex-related differences in smoking cessation in neurological patients

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