scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Journal ArticleDOI

Sex differences in visual-spatial working memory: A meta-analysis

01 Apr 2017-Psychonomic Bulletin & Review (Springer US)-Vol. 24, Iss: 2, pp 307-334
TL;DR: The present results indicate a male advantage in visual-spatial working memory, although age and specific task modulate the magnitude and direction of the effects.
Abstract: Visual-spatial working memory measures are widely used in clinical and experimental settings. Furthermore, it has been argued that the male advantage in spatial abilities can be explained by a sex difference in visual-spatial working memory. Therefore, sex differences in visual-spatial working memory have important implication for research, theory, and practice, but they have yet to be quantified. The present meta-analysis quantified the magnitude of sex differences in visual-spatial working memory and examined variables that might moderate them. The analysis used a set of 180 effect sizes from healthy males and females drawn from 98 samples ranging in mean age from 3 to 86 years. Multilevel meta-analysis was used on the overall data set to account for non-independent effect sizes. The data also were analyzed in separate task subgroups by means of multilevel and mixed-effects models. Results showed a small but significant male advantage (mean d = 0.155, 95 % confidence interval = 0.087-0.223). All the tasks produced a male advantage, except for memory for location, where a female advantage emerged. Age of the participants was a significant moderator, indicating that sex differences in visual-spatial working memory appeared first in the 13-17 years age group. Removing memory for location tasks from the sample affected the pattern of significant moderators. The present results indicate a male advantage in visual-spatial working memory, although age and specific task modulate the magnitude and direction of the effects. Implications for clinical applications, cognitive model building, and experimental research are discussed.

Content maybe subject to copyright    Report

Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This review focuses on the study of sex differences in the neurobiology of social behavior, memory, emotions, and recovery from brain injury, with particular emphasis on the role of estrogens in regulating forebrain function.

160 citations


Cites background from "Sex differences in visual-spatial w..."

  • ...Nevertheless, the largest sex difference, with males outperforming females, is seen in spatial ability, and meta-analyses indicate that spatial superiority in males exist in both rodents and primates (Jonasson, 2005; Voyer et al., 2016)....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This review finds little support for significant gender or sex differences in executive function and discusses future directions for the field and a brief discussion of biological mechanisms.

129 citations


Cites background from "Sex differences in visual-spatial w..."

  • ...A recent meta-analysis explicitly directed at identifying potential sex differences in working memory affirmed a female advantage in object location memory and suggested that there may be a male advantage in nback tasks [83]....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The data show a clear link between sex and regionally specific brain connectivity, but do not support a clear-cut dimorphism in functional brain organization that is driven by sex alone.
Abstract: A large amount of brain imaging research has focused on group studies delineating differences between males and females with respect to both cognitive performance as well as structural and functional brain organization. To supplement existing findings, the present study employed a machine learning approach to assess how accurately participants' sex can be classified based on spatially specific resting state (RS) brain connectivity, using 2 samples from the Human Connectome Project (n1 = 434, n2 = 310) and 1 fully independent sample from the 1000BRAINS study (n = 941). The classifier, which was trained on 1 sample and tested on the other 2, was able to reliably classify sex, both within sample and across independent samples, differing both with respect to imaging parameters and sample characteristics. Brain regions displaying highest sex classification accuracies were mainly located along the cingulate cortex, medial and lateral frontal cortex, temporoparietal regions, insula, and precuneus. These areas were stable across samples and match well with previously described sex differences in functional brain organization. While our data show a clear link between sex and regionally specific brain connectivity, they do not support a clear-cut dimorphism in functional brain organization that is driven by sex alone.

115 citations


Cites background from "Sex differences in visual-spatial w..."

  • ...Finally, the high classification accuracy in bilateral precuneus might be linked to the established male advantage in visuospatial working memory, which has recently been demonstrated based on a large meta-analysis (Voyer et al. 2017)....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A small male advantage in mental rotation performance first emerged during childhood and then subsequently increased with age, reaching a moderate effect size during adolescence, demonstrating that both age and procedural characteristics moderate the magnitude of the gender difference inmental rotation throughout development.
Abstract: Gender differences in spatial aptitude are well established by adulthood, particularly when measured by tasks that require the mental rotation of objects (Linn & Petersen, 1985; Voyer, Voyer, & Bryden, 1995). Although the male advantage in mental rotation performance represents one of the most robust gender differences in adult cognition, the developmental trajectory of this male advantage remains a topic of considerable debate. To address this debate, we meta-analyzed 303 effect sizes pertaining to gender differences in mental rotation performance among 30,613 children and adolescents. We found significant developmental change in the magnitude of the gender difference: A small male advantage in mental rotation performance first emerged during childhood and then subsequently increased with age, reaching a moderate effect size during adolescence. Procedural factors, including task and stimulus characteristics, also accounted for variability in reported gender differences, even when controlling for the effect of age. These results demonstrate that both age and procedural characteristics moderate the magnitude of the gender difference in mental rotation throughout development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

106 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This meta-analysis quantifies the overall magnitude of sex differences in large-scale navigation skills in a variety of paradigms and populations, and examines potential moderators, using 694 effect sizes from 266 studies and a multilevel analytic approach.
Abstract: There are inconsistent reports regarding behavioral sex differences in the human navigation literature. This meta-analysis quantifies the overall magnitude of sex differences in large-scale navigation skills in a variety of paradigms and populations, and examines potential moderators, using 694 effect sizes from 266 studies and a multilevel analytic approach. Overall, male participants outperform female participants, with a small to medium effect size (d = 0.34 to 0.38). The type of task, the type of dependent variable and the testing environment significantly contribute to variability in effect sizes, although there are only a few situations in which differences are either nonexistent or very large. Pointing and recall tasks (and the deviation scores associated with them) show larger sex differences than distance estimation tasks or learning to criterion. Studies with children younger than 13 years showed much smaller effect sizes (d = .15) than older age groups. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding sex differences in human spatial navigation and identify avenues for future navigation research.

94 citations


Cites background from "Sex differences in visual-spatial w..."

  • ...Women generally report higher spatial anxiety than men (Huang & Voyer, 2017; Lawton, 1994; Lawton & Kallai, 2002) and lower self-confidence in spatial tasks (Huang & Voyer, 2017; O’Laughlin & Brubaker, 1998)....

    [...]

References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
13 Sep 1997-BMJ
TL;DR: Funnel plots, plots of the trials' effect estimates against sample size, are skewed and asymmetrical in the presence of publication bias and other biases Funnel plot asymmetry, measured by regression analysis, predicts discordance of results when meta-analyses are compared with single large trials.
Abstract: Objective: Funnel plots (plots of effect estimates against sample size) may be useful to detect bias in meta-analyses that were later contradicted by large trials. We examined whether a simple test of asymmetry of funnel plots predicts discordance of results when meta-analyses are compared to large trials, and we assessed the prevalence of bias in published meta-analyses. Design: Medline search to identify pairs consisting of a meta-analysis and a single large trial (concordance of results was assumed if effects were in the same direction and the meta-analytic estimate was within 30% of the trial); analysis of funnel plots from 37 meta-analyses identified from a hand search of four leading general medicine journals 1993-6 and 38 meta-analyses from the second 1996 issue of the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews . Main outcome measure: Degree of funnel plot asymmetry as measured by the intercept from regression of standard normal deviates against precision. Results: In the eight pairs of meta-analysis and large trial that were identified (five from cardiovascular medicine, one from diabetic medicine, one from geriatric medicine, one from perinatal medicine) there were four concordant and four discordant pairs. In all cases discordance was due to meta-analyses showing larger effects. Funnel plot asymmetry was present in three out of four discordant pairs but in none of concordant pairs. In 14 (38%) journal meta-analyses and 5 (13%) Cochrane reviews, funnel plot asymmetry indicated that there was bias. Conclusions: A simple analysis of funnel plots provides a useful test for the likely presence of bias in meta-analyses, but as the capacity to detect bias will be limited when meta-analyses are based on a limited number of small trials the results from such analyses should be treated with considerable caution. Key messages Systematic reviews of randomised trials are the best strategy for appraising evidence; however, the findings of some meta-analyses were later contradicted by large trials Funnel plots, plots of the trials9 effect estimates against sample size, are skewed and asymmetrical in the presence of publication bias and other biases Funnel plot asymmetry, measured by regression analysis, predicts discordance of results when meta-analyses are compared with single large trials Funnel plot asymmetry was found in 38% of meta-analyses published in leading general medicine journals and in 13% of reviews from the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews Critical examination of systematic reviews for publication and related biases should be considered a routine procedure

37,989 citations


"Sex differences in visual-spatial w..." refers methods in this paper

  • ...Concerning the Egger et al. (1997) method, the standard normal deviate for the effect size is regressed on precision....

    [...]

  • ...Specifically, despite potential drawbacks, the Begg and Mazumdar (1994) and the Egger et al. (1997) approaches were used as additional tests for potential publication bias in the present sample....

    [...]

Book
03 Mar 1992
TL;DR: The Logic of Hierarchical Linear Models (LMLM) as discussed by the authors is a general framework for estimating and hypothesis testing for hierarchical linear models, and it has been used in many applications.
Abstract: Introduction The Logic of Hierarchical Linear Models Principles of Estimation and Hypothesis Testing for Hierarchical Linear Models An Illustration Applications in Organizational Research Applications in the Study of Individual Change Applications in Meta-Analysis and Other Cases Where Level-1 Variances are Known Three-Level Models Assessing the Adequacy of Hierarchical Models Technical Appendix

23,126 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This chapter discusses Hierarchical Linear Models in Applications, Applications in Organizational Research, and Applications in the Study of Individual Change Applications in Meta-Analysis and Other Cases Where Level-1 Variances are Known.

19,282 citations


"Sex differences in visual-spatial w..." refers background or methods or result in this paper

  • ...However, as a small number of level-2 units precludes calculations of robust standard errors (Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002), this approach could only be applied to task with sufficient numbers of level 2 units....

    [...]

  • ...Overall sex differences in visual-spatial working memory Examination of the combined effect size was performed by computing a null model where the test of significance for the intercept is examined (Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002)....

    [...]

  • ...model using a full maximum likelihood approach, as recommended by Raudenbush and Bryk (2002). As such, moderators were examined one at a time in models....

    [...]

  • ...In contrast, multilevel linear modeling (MLM) was designed to handle the type of hierarchical design represented in most meta-analyses without requiring independence of the effect sizes (Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002)....

    [...]

  • ...…of mixed-effects meta-analysis (when all effects sizes were independent or did not include enough samples to compute robust standard errors (Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002) or multilevel modeling (in the case of nonindependent effect sizes with enough samples to compute robust standard errors) to…...

    [...]

01 Jan 2007

18,170 citations


"Sex differences in visual-spatial w..." refers background or methods in this paper

  • ...A preliminary data analysis was conducted to identify outliers, defined as effect sizes that were more than 3.29 standard deviat ions2 from the grand mean (as recommended by Tabachnick and Fidell, 2007)....

    [...]

  • ...The examination 2 The specific criterion of 3.29 proposed by Tabachnick and Fidell (2007) is based on the notion that scores that deviate from the mean by that amount are linked with a probability of 0.001 in the normal distribution....

    [...]