Cubes or Pellets in Mental-Rotation Tests: Effects on Gender Differences and on the Performance in a Subsequent Math Test

"It's Different for Girls!" The Role of Anxiety, Physiological Arousal, and Subject Preferences in Primary School Children's Math and Mental Rotation Performance

(1) Background: This study examines the role of subjective anxiety (mathematics and spatial anxiety), along with physiological responses, in mathematics or math and mental rotation performance in 131 German primary school students (65 girls, 66 boys; Mean age = 8.73 years). (2) Method: Students' preference for math vs. German and their subjective anxiety were assessed using standardized questionnaires. Emotional reactivity was measured using the Galvanic Skin Response (GSR). Math performance was evaluated via percentage scored and completion times on number line estimation, word problems, and missing terms tasks. Spatial skills were assessed using a novel mental rotation task (nMRT) incorporating gender-congruent and -neutral stimuli. (3) Results: Girls outperformed boys on percentage scored on the math task but took longer to complete this. No gender differences were found in performance on the nMRT. Girls demonstrated higher math anxiety and were less likely to prefer math over German. Math anxiety predicted math scores and accuracy on the nMRT while gender predicted math performance and mental rotation response time. Subject preference was associated with longer completion times and emotional reactivity with longer response times. Girls' preference for math and lower emotional reactivity was linked to shorter completion times, while lower math anxiety predicted higher scores. In contrast, these factors did not affect boys' math performance. Additionally, subjective anxiety, emotional reactivity, or subject preference did not impact spatial performance for either gender. (4) Conclusions: Supporting mathematical self-efficacy and emotional regulation, especially in girls, is crucial for enhancing STEM outcomes in primary education. Gender-fair assessment in mental rotation reveals equitable spatial performance and reduces the impact of anxiety.

The influence of the design of mental rotation trials on performance and possible differences between sexes: A theoretical review and experimental investigation

Sex differences in mental rotation performance are one of the largest in cognitive psychology. Men outperform women by up to 1 SD in psychometric mental rotation tests, but it is often neglected that there are no or only small sex differences for chronometric tests. As both tests are supposed to measure the same ability, we suspect some features of the tests themselves to affect sex differences in performance. Following a theoretical review of the test features, we evaluate the effects of the number of possible answer alternatives, whether they are presented as pairwise mirrored, and their interaction on sex differences in mental rotation performance. In an online experiment, 838 German-speaking participants, 421 women, 417 men, Mage =  42.58 (SD = 12.54) years, solved four blocks of mental rotation trials with two or eight alternatives, which were either pairwise mirrored or not. The results show that that the overall performance was lower for more alternatives and for mixed alternatives but not for their interaction. We could not determine explanations for sex differences as we did not observe meaningful sex differences at all. Possible reasons include the differences between men and women in age and education. This study suggests that the differences between tests affect performance. Sex differences, however, need more investigation, including possible effects and interactions of the test design, education, and age.

Influence of the stimulus material on gender differences in a mental-rotation test

Gender differences in mental-rotation tests with cube figures as rotational material are well examined and robust. Besides biological or socialization factors, task characteristics could partly be responsible for men's advantage in mental rotation. Therefore, we investigated in two studies the influence of different rotational materials on the gender differences in mental-rotation performance. In the first study, 134 undergraduate students (89 women, 45 men) participated using a mental-rotation test with either cube or pellet figures. Significant gender differences in favour of men but no interaction of gender and material were found. In the second study, 189 undergraduate students (110 women, 79 men) solved a mental-rotation test with either male or female-stereotyped objects. Significant gender differences appeared only when male-stereotyped objects were used as rotational material, but not for female-stereotyped material. A significant interaction of gender and material appeared. Hence, some rotational objects seem to have an influence on participants' mental-rotation performance and the gender differences in this task while others do not affect performances of women and men.