Modern Psychological Studies
Periodical Title
Modern Psychological Studies
Volume
12
Number
1
Page Numbers
pages 1-10
Publisher
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Place of Publication
Chattanooga (Tenn.)
Date
2006
Abstract
It is well established that men tend to perform better than women in tests of spatial ability. The magnitude of these gender differences is usually relatively modest; however tasks involving 'mental rotation' generate more substantial effects. Mental rotation tests consistently yield the largest effect sizes, of any cognitive or spatial test specifically, for sex differences in performance. Many studies investigating factors such as sociocultural, biological, ratio scoring and instructional manipulation have been conducted in an attempt to account for this difference. However, very few studies have investigated the role of handedness in visual-spatial tasks, especially, in relation to impossible (mirror images) rotations. This study investigated the role handedness plays in females' ability to solve mental rotation tasks, specifically, for left-handed females. Also investigated was the performance of males and females on this visual-spatial task. The results revealed that the scores for left-handed females were not superior to right-handed females; however, a significant result was found for left-handers and ambidextrous females over righthanders on impossible tasks. In addition, males were not found to be superior to females on this visual-spatial task in either scores or reaction times.
Subject
Psychology
Discipline
Psychology
Document Type
article
DCMI Type
Text
Extent
10 leaves
Language
English
Call Number
BF1 .M63 v. 12 no. 1 2006
Rights
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Recommended Citation
Pforr, Elise M.
(2006)
"The importance of handedness for females: solving visual-spatial problems,"
Modern Psychological Studies: Vol. 12:
No.
1, Article 2.
Available at:
https://scholar.utc.edu/mps/vol12/iss1/2
Department
Dept. of Psychology