Illuminating sex differences in mental rotation using pupillometry.

摘要: We use pupillometry to measure sex differences in mental rotation (MR) and investigate the contentious claim that it is a unique spatial ability marked by male advantage performance. Across two MR tasks - using Shepard-Metzler style cube figures images of human hands we reaction time (RT) sensitivity, d', supplement these behavioural data with physiological metric 'cognitive effort', pupil diameter. Differences RT d' between sexes are slight for cubes task, while females consistently faster than males on task. In contrast, reveals striking difference, showing significantly lower dilation during suggesting less cognitive effort comparable This difference attenuated hands, line recent findings abilities dissipate when elements social perspective taking introduced. Taxonomy: Attention, Perception.