Solution strategies as possible explanations of individual and sex differences in a dynamic spatial task

Do the sex differences play such an important role in explaining performance in spatial tasks?

“…Even though these variables alone did not reduce the sex differences, they indicated that males had a more efficient behaviour throughout the task (less clicks, more correct clicks and they do it in less time). This means that the sex differences is not the variable that helps to solve the task correctly but rather using a certain type of process that is efficient in solving spatial tasks (Casey, Nuttall, & Pezaris, 1999;Peña et al, 2008). To check this hypothesis, different regression models were analysed, the last one of these included the sex variable, in addition to MR, SO and TM.…”

“…It has been stated that the type of university education (science or arts) does not moderate the differences according to sex (Contreras, Colom, Shih, Alava, & Santacreu, 2001); that even though Voyer et al (1995) suggested that procedural differences are an important source of variance in the magnitude of sex differences, males still have an advantage when these performance factors are partialed out (Contreras, Rubio, Peña, Colom, & Santacreu, 2007). Other studies inform that the solution strategies of a task determine performance in a dynamic spatial task more so than other performance variables but, even in this case, sex differences remain significant (Peña, Contreras, Shih, & Santacreu, 2008;Sacuzzo, Craig, Johnson, & Larson, 1996;Schiff & Oldak, 1990).…”

“…1 shows a screen shot that represents an item of SODT. Peña et al (2008) suggest that MR, SO and TM are involved in SODT performance. Time Management is crucial in numerous everyday activities and essential in certain jobs, such as air traffic controlling.…”

“…The task requires (1) identifying which course button to click; (2) changing the course of the two moving dots in order to direct them to the target which involves (3) managing both the total item time and the time spent on each of the two dots. The three subtasks considered separately correspond, respectively, to the three processes suggested by Peña et al (2008): Mental Rotation (MR), Spatial Orientation (SO) and Time Management (TM). The indexes that measure each process are detailed in Section 2.3.…”

“…Contreras et al, 2007); from .9 to .95 for the DIST variable Peña et al, 2008) and of .92 for the MR variable (Martínez-Molina, 2008).…”