Sex differences in object location memory: The female advantage of immediate detection of changes

Object location memory has been considered the only spatial ability in which females display an advantage over males. We examined sex differences in long-term object location memory. After participants studied an array of objects, they were asked to recall the locations of these objects three minutes later or one week later. Results showed a female advantage only in the three-minute memory task. Additionally, we analyzed sex differences in the ability to recognize both location-exchanged and location-maintained objects. Females were superior to males at recognizing location-exchanged objects after three minutes, but not after one week. Although the one-week group's memory performance for location-exchanged objects was marginally lower, some members of that group recognized the location-maintained objects at higher levels of performance. Therefore, we concluded that the female advantage in object location memory is limited to immediate detection of changes. The relevant evolutionary theories are discussed.     

The Smarter Sex: A Critical Review of Sex Differences in Intelligence

Although there are no sex differences in general intelligence, reliable differences are found on some tests of cognitive abilities. Many of the tasks that assess the ability to manipulate visual images in working memory show an advantage for males, whereas many of the tasks that require retrieval from long-term memory and the acquisition and use of verbal information show a female advantage. Large effects favoring males are also found on advanced tests of mathematical achievement, especially with highly select samples. Males are also overrepresented in some types of mental retardation. Effects sizes are variable and often large. These differences are generally found cross-culturally and across the life span. The nature–nurture dichotomy is rejected as an interpretive framework. In light of recent findings that environmental variables alter the biological underpinnings of intelligence and individuals actively participate in creating their environments, we prefer a psychobiosocial model for understanding sex differences in intelligence.     

Object location memory: A direct test of the verbal memory hypothesis

Although the male advantage in traditional spatial abilities is well established, the female advantage in object location memory remains tentative. Object location memory is the only spatial ability that yields a female advantage, leading some to speculate that other factors, such as verbal memory, may solely account for the sex difference. The present experiment directly addressed the role of verbal memory using a novel object location memory task. Results suggest that the direction of the sex difference is context-specific, depending on the nature of the stimuli, and that verbal memory may account for the female bias in object location memory.     

An investigation of sex differences on incidental memory for verbal and pictorial material

Previous research has sometimes claimed a female advantage on tasks of incidental memory. However, it is uncertain whether the sex difference was due to the incidental, or to the heavily verbal, nature of the tasks used, since women are known to have better verbal memory than men. The current study asked whether a female superiority would be found under less verbally-loaded conditions. No sex difference was found on two different pictorial tasks, both of which measured incidental memory for the content of complex scenes. In contrast, a female advantage was observed across both incidental and intentional conditions when easily labeled stimuli were used. This advantage was eliminated on the incidental condition when the effects of intentional verbal memory were controlled for. These findings strongly suggest that previous reports of a female advantage on incidental memory may have been due to the choice of verbalizable stimuli.     

Some contributions to sex differences in scholastic aptitude scores

In this study no significant direct effect of sex on performance on ASAT was found. Further, sex differences in performance were found to be the result of females having a higher verbal ability as measured by English assessments, males studying more mathematics, and males having a greater confidence in success on ASAT. For this sample it was found that the female students achieved about 0.40 score points on ASAT more than males, after regressing out father's occupation, English assessment, hours spent studying mathematics, and confidence in success. The adjustment to ASAT scores in 1983 would certainly account for the positive effect of sex; i.e. being a female increased a student's score by 0.40 score points. After allowing for this adjustment of approximately 1.0 score points, being a male increased a students ASAT score by 0.60 score points.ASAT was found to favour students who scored well in English and those students who studied more hours of mathematics. English, in part, tests verbal aptitude and consequently it might be expected that there would be a significant positive effect related to English assessment. The number of hours of mathematics studied is not itself a direct measure of aptitude and consequently it may be considered that the number of hours of mathematics studied provides an advantage for performance on ASAT. However, it is not unreasonable to expect that it is those students of greater quantitative aptitude who would study more mathematics. The significant mathematics hours effect may be a result of this, since there is no control for quantitative aptitude within the model. It was, however, the very large effect which the score on the confidence in success attitude scale had on ASAT performance that was the most suprising. For some undetermined, perhaps social, reason, females had a significantly lower confidence than males.The relationship between Confidence in Success and performance might be expected since, in part, the Confidence in Success variable measures how well students thought they did on ASAT. It is still clear however, that after confidence in success is taken into account, sex has no significant effect on ASAT score. The predictors of success are English ability, hours spent in the study of mathematics, and confidence.     

A Sex Difference by Item Difficulty Interaction in Multiple-Choice Mathematics Items Administered to National Probability Samples

A 1998 study by Bielinski and Davison reported a sex difference by item difficulty interaction in which easy items tended to be easier for females than males, and hard items tended to be harder for females than males. To extend their research to nationally representative samples of students, this study used math achievement data from the 1992 NAEP, the TIMSS, and the NELS:88. The data included students in grades 4, 8, 10, and 12. The interaction was assessed by correlating the item difficulty difference (b_male− b_female) with item difficulty computed on the combined male/female sample. Using only the multiple-choice mathematics items, the predicted negative correlation was found for all eight populations and was significant in five. An argument is made that this phenomenon may help explain the greater variability in math achievement among males as compared to females and the emergence of higher performance of males in late adolescence.     

Effects of violent and non-violent computer game content on memory performance in adolescents

The present study focuses on the short-term effects of electronic entertainment media on memory and learning processes. It compares the effects of violent versus non-violent computer game content in a condition of playing and in another condition of watching the same game. The participants consisted of 83 female and 94 male adolescents with a mean age of 17.6 years. The dependent variables are memory for previously learnt verbal and visual material, memory for media-related content and physiological measures of stress (heart rate, cortisol, salivary alpha-amylase). Besides the group comparisons, potential mediation effects and gender differences were examined. The results show that violent content leads to a poorer memory performance for verbal material and to an increased heart rate. The heart rate, however, does not mediate the effect on memory performance. Genders differ regarding their abilities to memorise verbal and visual material, with females showing a better performance (independent of the experimental condition), and for memorising media-contents, where the males outperform females (also independent of experimental condition). The study supports the assumption that violent and arousing media content has a negative short-term effect on simultaneous information processing and learning and that there are gender-specific media effects.     

Short-term memory,phonological processing,and reading ability

Verbal short-term memory deficits are a common characteristic of children with reading problems and may markedly increase the difficulty of learning to read. Previous work suggests that the basis of the short-term memory deficit may involve limitations in phonetic coding. In the present paper, a series of experiments are reviewed which examined the role of phonological processes in short-term memory. First, a developmental study is described in which a significant relationship was found between phonetic processes and verbal memory span, but not between phonetic processes and nonverbal memory. Second, additional studies are reviewed which collectively found that children with reading problems are less accurate at phonetic encoding than are good readers, and that performance on phonetic processing corresponds with verbal memory span. No reading group differences were obtained on nonverbal perception or memory tasks. These findings suggest that both developmental and individual differences in verbal memory span are related to the efficiency of phonological processes. Practical implications of current cognitive research are discussed. The research was supported by NIH Grant HD-01994 to Haskins Laboratories.     

Construction play and cognitive skills associated with the development of mathematical abilities in 7-year-old children

Construction play is thought to develop logico-mathematical skills, however the underlying mechanisms have not been defined. In order to fill this gap, this study looks at the relationship between Lego construction ability, cognitive abilities and mathematical performance in 7-year-old, Year 2 primary school children (N = 66). While studies have focused on the relationship between mathematics performance and verbal memory, there are limited studies focussing on visuospatial memory. We tested both visuospatial and verbal working memory and short term memory, as well as non-verbal intelligence. Mathematical performance was measured through the WIAT-II numerical operations, and the word reading subtest was used as a control variable. We used a Lego construction task paradigm based on four task variables found to systematically increase construction task difficulty. The results suggest that Lego construction ability is positively related to mathematics performance, and visuospatial memory fully mediates this relationship. Future work of an intervention study using Lego construction training to develop visuospatial memory, which in turn may improve mathematics performance, is suggested.     

Gender difference in the effect of daytime sleep on declarative memory for pictures

Objective: To investigate gender difference in the effects of daytime sleep on item and source memories, which are dissociable elements of declarative memory, and the effects of sleep on recollection and familiarity, which are two processes underlying recognition. Methods: Participants saw a series of pictures with either blue or red background, and were then given a pretest for item and source memories. Then males and females respectively were randomly assigned either to a wake or a sleep condition. In the wake condition, participants remained awake until the posttest; in the sleep condition, participants slept for 1 h until awakened and asked to remain awake until the posttest. Results: Daytime sleep contributed to retention of source memory rather than item memory in females, whereas males undergoing daytime sleep had a trend towards increased familiarity. For females, however, neither recollection nor familiarity appeared to be influenced by daytime sleep. Conclusion: The mechanism underlying gender difference may be linked with different memory traces resulting from different encoding strategies, as well as with different electrophysiological changes during daytime sleep.     

Age-Related Effects of Study Time Allocation on Memory Performance in a Verbal and a Spatial Task

Past studies have suggested that study time allocation partially mediates age relations on memory performance in a verbal task. To identify whether this applied to a different material modality, participants ages 20-87 completed a spatial task in addition to a traditional verbal task. In both the verbal and the spatial task, increased age was associated with poorer utilization of study time, suggesting that age differences in study time allocation are qualitatively similar across material modality. Furthermore, age differences in how individuals allocated their study time partially mediated the age relations on memory performance in both tasks, indicating the importance of effective regulation of study time when learning information. Finally, age differences in study time allocation did not appear to be due to differences in awareness of performance. When a subset of participants was asked about their prior performance, awareness of previous performance was not associated with study time allocation on either task. Interestingly, asking participants about their prior performance tended to decrease recall performance. Overall, these results illustrate that how one allocates study time is related to subsequent memory performance in both a verbal and spatial modality, but knowledge about prior performance is not associated with study time utilization, and inquiring about past performance during study may disrupt rather than facilitate learning.     

Age-Related Effects of Study Time Allocation on Memory Performance in a Verbal and a Spatial Task

Past studies have suggested that study time allocation partially mediates age relations on memory performance in a verbal task. To identify whether this applied to a different material modality, participants ages 20–87 completed a spatial task in addition to a traditional verbal task. In both the verbal and the spatial task, increased age was associated with poorer utilization of study time, suggesting that age differences in study time allocation are qualitatively similar across material modality. Furthermore, age differences in how individuals allocated their study time partially mediated the age relations on memory performance in both tasks, indicating the importance of effective regulation of study time when learning information. Finally, age differences in study time allocation did not appear to be due to differences in awareness of performance. When a subset of participants was asked about their prior performance, awareness of previous performance was not associated with study time allocation on either task. Interestingly, asking participants about their prior performance tended to decrease recall performance. Overall, these results illustrate that how one allocates study time is related to subsequent memory performance in both a verbal and spatial modality, but knowledge about prior performance is not associated with study time utilization, and inquiring about past performance during study may disrupt rather than facilitate learning.     

Imagery and Verbal Ability and Recognition Memory for Pictures and Words in Males and Females

Objective and subjective indices of imagery and verbal ability and their relationship to recognition memory for pictures and concrete words were examined in a large correlational study. Objective spatial tests of imagery proved to be better predictors of picture recognition than were self‐assessments, the Flags test excepted. Spatial tests also predicted word memory in males, but not females. Imagery control and imagery vividness bore little relation to recognition; vividness within specific modalities may have some influence, however, particularly in males. Verbal fluency and verbal comprehension were either unrelated or marginally negatively related to performance. In general, a more specialised pattern of ability‐performance correlations emerged for females than for males.     

The role of sentence recall in reading and language skills of children with learning difficulties

The present study explores the relationship between sentence recall and reading and language skills in a group of 7–11-year-old children with learning difficulties. While recent studies have found that performance on sentence recall tasks plays a role in learning, it is possible that this contribution is a reflection of shared resources with working memory. In order to investigate whether sentence recall was uniquely associated with reading and language skills, differences associated with IQ and working memory capacity were statistically controlled. A sample of 72 children was tested on measures of verbal complex memory, verbal short-term memory, sentence recall, expressive vocabulary, verbal and performance IQ, reading and language skills. Both sentence recall and verbal complex memory shared unique links with reading skill, and sentence recall was uniquely associated with language skills. This finding indicates that resources in long-term memory also play an important diagnostic role in reading and language abilities. The implications for educational practice are discussed.     

Working Memory and Strategy Use Contribute to Gender Differences in Spatial Ability

In this review, a new model that is grounded in information-processing theory is proposed to account for gender differences in spatial ability. The proposed model assumes that the relative strength of working memory, as expressed by the ratio of visuospatial working memory to verbal working memory, influences the type of strategies used on spatial ability tasks. Strategy use, in turn, influences performance on spatial ability tasks. Gender differences in spatial ability can be explained by gender differences in strategy use as a function of the relative strength of visuospatial working memory to verbal working memory.     

A general approach for calculating the likelihood of dyadic interactions: Applications to sex preferences in rat pups and agonistic interactions in adults

We introduce a general approach for calculating the expected frequency of different types of dyadic interactions between animals and illustrate it with two applications. The first application determines whether there are sex contact biases between male and female Norway rat pups. We hypothesized that opposite-sex contact biases should be small, because it is likely that differences in contact based on the sex of animals would interfere with other biological functions, such as group temperature regulation. We found a small but significant bias of 3% in opposite-sex contacts. The second application reanalyzed J. B. Calhoun’s (1962) data on antagonistic encounters between rats for two factors (sex and birth location), each with two levels. The results of these two applications suggest that sex contact biases among pups are predictive of agonistic encounters among adults and that this approach has general application to the analysis of dyadic interactions among animals.     

Sex differences in hemispheric specialization: Hypothesis for the excess of dyslexia in boys

Conclusions Sex differences exist in the prevalence of dyslexia as well as in overall verbal ability. These sex differences may reflect sex differences in hemispheric specialization: males show strong left hemisphere specialization for verbal processing and strong right hemisphere specialization for spatial processing whereas females show greater bihemispheric participation in both verbal and spatial processing. The greater hemispheric specialization observed in males may have implications including: (1) lower verbal ability than in females, (2) higher spatial ability than in females, (3) reduced potential for shifting language to the right hemisphere after early life left hemisphere injury, and (4) diminished capacity to compensate for unfavorable left-right anatomic asymmetries of the posterior language zone. Lower overall verbal ability as well as an inability to spare certain language skills effectively in the face of either unfavorable cerebral asymmetries or early life left hemisphere insults may partially explain the excess of developmental language disorders (and dyslexia in particular) in boys. Dr. Hier is a neurologist at the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Hospital, an Instructor in Neurology at the Harvard Medical School, and Clinical and Research Fellow at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. The work reported in this paper was supported in part by NINCDS Fellowship NS05917-01 and presented at a meeting of the New Branch of The Orton Society in October 1978.     

THE EFFECTS OF VIOLATIONS OF UNIDIMENSIONALITY ON THE ESTIMATION OF ITEM AND ABILITY PARAMETERS AND ON ITEM RESPONSE THEORY EQUATING OF THE GRE VERBAL SCALE

One of the major assumptions of item response theory (IRT)models is that performance on a set of items is unidimensional, that is, the probability of successful performance by examinees on a set of items can be modeled by a mathematical model that has only one ability parameter. In practice, this strong assumption is likely to be violated. An important pragmatic question to consider is: What are the consequences of these violations? In this research, evidence is provided of violations of unidimensionality on the verbal scale of the GRE Aptitude Test, and the impact of these violations on IRT equating is examined. Previous factor analytic research on the GRE Aptitude Test suggested that two verbal dimensions, discrete verbal (analogies, antonyms, and sentence completions)and reading comprehension, existed. Consequently, the present research involved two separate calibrations (homogeneous) of discrete verbal items and reading comprehension items as well as a single calibration (heterogeneous) of all verbal item types. Thus, each verbal item was calibrated twice and each examinee obtained three ability estimates: reading comprehension, discrete verbal, and all verbal. The comparability of ability estimates based on homogeneous calibrations (reading comprehension or discrete verbal) to each other and to the all-verbal ability estimates was examined. The effects of homogeneity of item calibration pool on estimates of item discrimination were also examined. Then the comparability of IRT equatings based on homogeneous and heterogeneous calibrations was assessed. The effects of calibration homogeneity on ability parameter estimates and discrimination parameter estimates are consistent with the existence of two highly correlated verbal dimensions. IRT equating results indicate that although violations of unidimensionality may have an impact on equating, the effect may not be substantial.     

Phonological processing skills and deficits in adult dyslexics

This article presents 4 experiments aimed at defining the primary underlying phonological processing deficit(s) in adult dyslexia. 5 phonological processes, all involving spoken language, were studied: phoneme perception, phoneme awareness, lexical retrieval of phonology, articulatory speed, and phonetic coding in verbal short-term memory. 2 differently ascertained adult dyslexic groups, familial dyslexics (n = 15) and clinic dyslexics (n = 15), were the subjects in each experiment. These dyslexic groups were chosen because deficits that persist until adulthood and that are found in differently ascertained dyslexic groups are more likely to be primary. Each dyslexic group was compared to 2 control groups, chronological age (CA) controls who were similar in age and sex, and younger reading age (RA) controls who were similar in reading age and sex. The main finding was a clear deficit in phoneme awareness in both dyslexic groups, with each dyslexic group performing significantly worse than both CA and RA controls. Moreover, performance on the 2 phoneme awareness tasks together uniquely accounted for substantial variance in nonword reading. The clinic but not the familial dyslexics appeared to have an additional deficit in verbal short-term memory. No clear deficits were found in either dyslexic group in phoneme perception, lexical retrieval, or articulatory speed.     

Field Dependence-Field Independence in 5- to 10-Year-Old Children

Abstract

A final random sample of 160 Provo, Utah, elementary school children ages 5 to 10, was included in a balanced cell format to investigate the effects of school as reflective of socioeconomic level, age, sex, and intelligence on performance on the Children’s Embedded Figures Test (CEFT), a measure of Witkin’s field-dependence-independence hypothesis appropriate for use with young children. Results implied that (1) there may be differences on criterion performance according to relative social class; (2) age is the single best predictor of criterion performance, as significant differences proceeding from relative field-dependence to greater field-independence with increasing age were found; (3) there is a similar developmental pattern to increase in verbal intellectual power and increase in relative field-independence when all ages are considered together; (4) there were no significant similarities between field-dependence-independence and verbal intelligence within three of four specific ages investigated; (5) no sex differences in criterion performance were found.