Sex Differences in Children's Spatial and Verbal Memory Span

Grossi, Dario; Orsini, A.; Monetti, Carlo; Michele, Giuseppe De

doi:10.1016/s0010-9452(79)80054-4

Cited by 31 publications

(19 citation statements)

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“…Drawing from theory and research suggesting that boys experience an earlier and more rapid maturation of the right hemisphere than do girls during childhood (Ehrlich et al, 2006; Geschwind & Galaburda, 1985; Grossi et al, 1979; Levine et al, 1999; Levy & Heller, 1992; Orsini et al, 1981), we proposed that boys may rely more heavily than girls on this hemisphere for information processing, thereby strengthening associations between a reduced right hemisphere bias and socioemotional difficulties in boys. In contrast, girls’ slower maturation of the right hemisphere during childhood may lead them to develop a left-hemisphere advantage and to rely more heavily on left-hemisphere driven (e.g., verbal) strategies during information processing (Cioffi & Kandel, 1979; Levy & Heller, 1992; Shucard et al, 1981).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Biological differences are thought to influence the organization and development of the brain such that the right hemisphere matures at a faster rate in boys than in girls (Geschwind & Galaburda, 1985; Kimura, 1999). Indeed, several studies demonstrate that boys outperform girls on right-hemisphere dominant information-processing tasks, such as those involving visual-spatial reasoning and memory, throughout childhood (Ehrlich, Levine, & Goldin-Meadow, 2006; Grossi, Orsini, Monetti, & De Michele, 1979; Levine, Huttenlocher, Taylor, & Langrock, 1999; Orsini, Shiappa, & Grossi, 1981). For instance, boys demonstrate greater proficiency assembling objects (McGuinness & Morley, 1991) and performing tasks requiring mental transformations of spatial designs (Johnson & Meade, 1987; Levine et al, 1999).…”

Section: Sex Differences In Hemispheric Maturationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Neuropsychological and interpersonal antecedents of youth depression

Flynn

Rudolph

2010

Cognition & Emotion

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This research examined neuropsychological and interpersonal factors that jointly confer vulnerability to youth depression. We proposed that (1) a reduced posterior right hemisphere bias during the processing of facial expressions contributes to subsequent depressive symptoms in youth, and (2) maladaptive responses to interpersonal stress account for this association. Drawing from theory and research indicating sex differences in rates of hemispheric development, we also investigated sex differences in the associations among a reduced posterior right hemisphere bias, maladaptive responses to interpersonal stress, and depressive symptoms. Hypotheses were examined in a longitudinal study of 95 4th – 8th graders (M age = 12.33, SD = 1.10). Results supported the notion that a reduced posterior right hemisphere bias confers vulnerability to depressive symptoms over time in a sex-specific fashion, and implicate maladaptive stress responses as an explanatory mechanism.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Sex Differences In Hemispheric Maturationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neuropsychological and interpersonal antecedents of youth depression

Flynn

Rudolph

2010

Cognition & Emotion

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“…Consistent male advantages in visual-spatial cognition are reported for adults, particularly on tasks requiring dynamic 3D processing, (e.g., Geary, 1995;Geary, Saults, Liu, & Hoard, 2000;Voyer, Voyer, & Bryden, 1995;see Halpern, 2000 for a review), although no consistent advantages are reported in studies of children (Lachance & Mazzocco, 2006). Young boys (4 years) have been found to perform better than girls on a task involving replication of spatiotemporal patterns tapped out on blocks (Grossi, Orsini, Monetti, & De Michele, 1979;Orsini, Schiappa, & Grossi, 1981), whilst sex differences in 3D mental rotation are typically not evidenced until early adolescence (although see Levine, Huttenlocher, Taylor, & Langrock, 1999 as an exception). Some studies also report a male advantage on standardised mathematical reasoning tasks (e.g., Mau & Lynn, 2000;see Hyde, Fenneman & Lamon, 1990 for a review), and on mathematical tasks requiring spatial-mechanical skills or problems that utilize visualisation strategies (e.g., Casey, Nuttall, & Pezaris, 1997;Gallagher et al, 2000;Geary et al, 2000;Lummis & Stevenson, 1990).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Prenatal testosterone, visual-spatial memory, and numerical skills in young children

Bull

Davidson

Nordmann

2010

Learning and Individual Differences

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“…Levine et al (1999) also highlighted findings that "boys as young as 4 years of age performed better than girls on a task that involved replicating spatiotemporal patterns tapped out by the experimenter on a set of blocks, and the size of this sex difference remained constant across the 4-to 10-year age range (Grossi, Orsini, Monetti, & De Michele, 1979;Orsini, Schiappa, & Grossi, 1981)" (p. 940). Finally, Casey et al (2008) reported sex differences in three-dimensional mental rotation among kindergartners.…”

Section: Specific Cognitive Tasksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Women's underrepresentation in science: Sociocultural and biological considerations.

Ceci

Williams

Barnett

2009

Psychological Bulletin

810

573

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The underrepresentation of women at the top of math-intensive fields is controversial, with competing claims of biological and sociocultural causation. The authors develop a framework to delineate possible causal pathways and evaluate evidence for each. Biological evidence is contradictory and inconclusive. Although cross-cultural and cross-cohort differences suggest a powerful effect of sociocultural context, evidence for specific factors is inconsistent and contradictory. Factors unique to underrepresentation in math-intensive fields include the following: (a) Math-proficient women disproportionately prefer careers in non-math-intensive fields and are more likely to leave math-intensive careers as they advance; (b) more men than women score in the extreme math-proficient range on gatekeeper tests, such as the SAT Mathematics and the Graduate Record Examinations Quantitative Reasoning sections; (c) women with high math competence are disproportionately more likely to have high verbal competence, allowing greater choice of professions; and (d) in some math-intensive fields, women with children are penalized in promotion rates. The evidence indicates that women's preferences, potentially representing both free and constrained choices, constitute the most powerful explanatory factor; a secondary factor is performance on gatekeeper tests, most likely resulting from sociocultural rather than biological causes.Keywords: sex differences, spatial ability, mathematics, family versus career trade-offs, women in science Supplemental materials: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0014412.supp By 2001, women were earning 48% of bachelor's degrees (National Science Foundation, 2007) and 29% of PhD degrees (Hill & Johnson, 2004) in mathematics, representing enormous increases over the prior 30 years. Women's representation among editorial boards in science and awards panels similarly increased (Nelson & Brammer, 2008). These changes are evidence of the strength of cultural factors in determining such outcomes, because biology has not changed over this period. Despite this progress, women's representation among PhD degree holders has not coincided with proportional faculty appointments: Women earned 31.3% of chemistry PhD degrees between 1993 and 2003 but in 2002 were hired for only 21.5% of assistant professorships. Similar disparities exist for new faculty appointments in physics, engineering, and mathematics. In 1976 women represented only 7.5% of the faculty in physical sciences and less than 1% in engineering (Dearman & Plisko, 1979). By 2006 the percentage had increased to 16%-25%, but the hiring of assistant professors in these fields has not been proportional to female PhD pools. This hiring disparity extends beyond math-intensive fields.Even in less math-intensive fields, such as cellular and molecular biology, fields in which women obtain 46% of all PhD degrees, women disproportionately drop out at multiple points. The picture is the same across many science fields: Women are not being hired as assistant professors at the ra...

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Sex Differences in Children's Spatial and Verbal Memory Span

Cited by 31 publications

References 0 publications

Neuropsychological and interpersonal antecedents of youth depression

Neuropsychological and interpersonal antecedents of youth depression

Prenatal testosterone, visual-spatial memory, and numerical skills in young children

Women's underrepresentation in science: Sociocultural and biological considerations.

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