Spatial anxiety and self-confidence mediate sex/gender differences in mental rotation

Abstract

A recent meta−synthesis study with a sample of over 12 million participants revealed that the male advantage in mental rotation (MR) is the largest cognitive sex/gender difference found in psychological literature. MR requires test−takers to mentally rotate three−dimensional cubic figures under time restrictions. Previous studies have investigated how biological and social factors contribute to cognitive sex/gender differences in tasks of this type. Spatial anxiety and self−confidence in MR tasks have received less attention. The present study investigated the contribution of these psychological factors to sex/gender differences in MR performance. Participants (n=269) completed two MR tasks which differed in task difficulty. Participants were also asked to indicated their self−confidence (for each item) and spatial anxiety. The results revealed that pronounced sex/gender differences in spatial anxiety and self−confidence mediate sex/gender in MR performance, especially when task demands are high. The current findings suggest that task−irrelevant factors that are not spatial cognitive in nature contribute largely to the well−known medium to large sex/gender difference in MR. Future studies should further explore mechanisms underlying cognitive sex/gender differences within a biopsychosocial approach.