Age of sexual maturation and adult spatial ability

Abstract

This paper describes a study designed to provide an extensive evaluation of the potential relationship between the age of sexual maturation and adult spatial ability. Data from two previous studies were combined to provide information on reasonably large samples of adult men (n = 133) and adult women (n = 116). Variables that represented the age of sexual maturation and scores on measures that span the Spatial Orientation ability factor were used in this reanalysis. The relationship between maturational timing and performance on the measures of spatial ability was examined from three perspectives: (1) correlations between indexes of maturational timing and the spatial measures, (2) correlations between variables derived from a signal-detection analysis of performance on the spatial measures and indexes of pubertal timing, and (3) a comparison of spatial ability for groups extreme in pubertal timing. In all, no consistent relationship between the age of sexual maturation and performance on the spatial orientation measures was found. Implications for the long-term relationship between maturational timing and individual differences in spatial ability are discussed.

The gender difference in orienting liquid surfaces and plumb-lines: Its robustness, its correlates, and the associated knowledge of simple physics.

“…Concerning onset of puberty, late maturers have been shown to perform better in some spatial visualization (Waber, 1976, 1977) and mental rotation (Sanders & Scares, 1986) tasks relative to early maturers. However, the absence of a relation between onset of puberty and proficiency has been reported in other mental rotation tasks (Bryden & Vrbancic, 1988; Geary & Gilger, 1989; Gilger & Ho, 1989; Newcombe et al, 1989), and in the water-level task (Newcombe & Dubas, 1987; Strauss & Kinsbourne, 1981), as well as in other spatial problems (Bryden & Vrbancic, 1988; Geary & Gilger, 1989; Newcombe et al, 1989; Petersen, 1983; Rierdan & Koff, 1984). Whereas all these results were based on retrospective assessments of pubertal onset, Newcombe and Bandura (1983) established through physical examination the pubertal status of 11 year-old girls and found a small advantage for late maturers.…”