Sex differences in the Simon task help to interpret sex differences in selective attention

Stoet, Gijsbert

doi:10.1007/s00426-016-0763-4

Cited by 58 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…Finally, because gender is linked to anxiety (McLean & Anderson, 2009), startle response (Kofler et al, 2001), and attention (Stoet, in press), we tested for gender differences in variables of interest. We also examined whether results differed after covarying for gender and whether the pattern of results was similar within each gender.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships among attention networks and physiological responding to threat

Sarapas

Weinberg

Langenecker

et al. 2017

Brain and Cognition

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Although researchers have long hypothesized a relationship between attention and anxiety, theoretical and empirical accounts of this relationship have conflicted. We attempted to resolve these conflicts by examining relationships of attentional abilities with responding to predictable and unpredictable threat, related but distinct motivational process implicated in a number of anxiety disorders. Eighty-one individuals completed a behavioral task assessing efficiency of three components of attention – alerting, orienting, and executive control (Attention Network Test - Revised). We also assessed startle responding during anticipation of both predictable, imminent threat (of mild electric shock) and unpredictable contextual threat. Faster alerting and slower disengaging from non-emotional attention cues were related to heightened responding to unpredictable threat, whereas poorer executive control of attention was related to heightened responding to predictable threat. This double dissociation helps to integrate models of attention and anxiety and may be informative for treatment development.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships among attention networks and physiological responding to threat

Sarapas

Weinberg

Langenecker

et al. 2017

Brain and Cognition

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“…A second possible reason for the lack of sex difference on the flanker task is that the sex difference is underpinned by a particular type of non-social control. Previous studies help contextualise this finding by showing that females differ from males across a wide range of cognitive control tasks, especially those involving spatial processing (Bayliss & Tipper, 2005;Clayson et al, 2011;Stoet et al, 2017;Stoet, 2011). One possibility, therefore, is that the sex difference may reflect a difference in the two types of spatial conflict measured by the flanker and spatial compatibility effect.…”

Section: What Type Of Cognitive System Underpins Sex Differences In Imentioning

confidence: 95%

“…flanker, oddball, gaze-and arrow-cueing, and Simon tasks; Stoet, 2010;Judge & Taylor, 2012;Clayson et al, 2011;Rubia et al, 2010;Bayliss et al, 2005;Merritt et al, 2007;Alwall et al, 2010). As such, sex differences in SRC tasks may reflect differences in cognitive systems that operate across these tasks such as selective attention (Clayson et al, 2011) and/or spatial processing (Stoet, 2017).…”

Section: General Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Darda_individual_differences_cognitive_control

Darda¹,

Butler²,

Ramsey³

2019

Preprint

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Cognitive control refers to the ability of human beings to adapt flexibly and quickly to continuously changing environments. Several decades of research have identified a diverse range of mental processes that are associated with cognitive control but the extent to which shared systems underlie cognitive control in social and non-social contexts, as well as how these systems may vary across individuals, remains largely unexplored. By integrating methodological approaches from experimental and differential psychology, the current study is able to shine new light on the relationships between stable features of individuals, such as personality and sex, and the architecture of cognitive control systems using paradigms that index social (automatic imitation) and spatial processes. Across three large-sample experiments (>600 participants in total), we demonstrate that cognitive control systems are largely invariant to stable aspects of personality, but exhibit a sex difference, such that females show greater task-interference than males. Moreover, we further qualified this sex difference in two ways. First, we showed that the sex difference was unrelated to the sex of the interaction partner and therefore did not reflect an in-group bias based on sex. Second, we showed that the sex difference was tied to a form of spatial interference control rather than social (imitative) control and therefore it does not reflect a specialised mechanism for guiding social interactions exclusively. Instead, our findings suggest that a robust sex difference exists in the system (or set of subsystems) that operate in resolving a form of spatial interference control, and that such systems are unaffected by social factors such as the sex of the interaction partner. The results highlight the value of integrating approaches from experimental and differential psychology by providing a deeper understanding of the structure of cognitive control systems, whilst also providing new dimensions to incorporate into theories and models of social and non-social control.

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“…Data from the two groups are pooled to obtain an image of how the "average brain" works. However, men and women are known to rely on different strategies when solving cognitive and affective tasks (Jordan et al 2002;Geiser et al 2006;Heil and Jansen-Osmann 2008;Olsen et al 2013;Boghi et al 2006;Derntl et al 2010;Stoet 2016), indicating that averaging may inevitably cancel out information and that gender-unbalanced samples produce biased results (cf. Bell et al 2006).…”

Section: Table 2 Debriefing Sessionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Willingness towards cognitive engagement: a preliminary study based on a behavioural entropy approach

et al. 2019

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Faced with a novel task some people enthusiastically embark in it and work with determination, while others soon lose interest and progressively reduce their efforts. Although cognitive neuroscience has explored the behavioural and neural features of apathy, the why's and how's of positive engagement are only starting to be understood. Stemming from the observation that the left hemisphere is commonly associated to a proactive ('do something') disposition, we run a preliminary study exploring the possibility that individual variability in eagerness to engage in cognitive tasks could reflect a preferred left-or right-hemisphere functioning mode. We adapted a task based on response-independent reinforcement and used entropy to characterize the degree of involvement, diversification, and predictability of responses. Entropy was higher in women, who were overall more active, less dependent on instructions, and never reduced their engagement during the task. Conversely, men showed lower entropy, took longer pauses, and became significantly less active by the end of the allotted time, renewing their efforts mainly in response to negative incentives. These findings are discussed in the light of neurobiological data on gender differences in behaviour.

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Sex differences in the Simon task help to interpret sex differences in selective attention

Cited by 58 publications

References 64 publications

Relationships among attention networks and physiological responding to threat

Relationships among attention networks and physiological responding to threat

Darda_individual_differences_cognitive_control

Willingness towards cognitive engagement: a preliminary study based on a behavioural entropy approach

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