Illuminating sex differences in mental rotation using pupillometry
Abstract
We use pupillometry to measure sex differences in mental rotation (MR) and to investigate the contentious claim that it is a unique spatial ability marked by male advantage in performance. Across two MR tasks - using Shepard-Metzler style cube figures and images of human hands - we measure reaction time (RT) and sensitivity, d', and supplement these behavioural data with a physiological metric of 'cognitive effort', pupil diameter. Differences in RT and in d' between the sexes are slight for the cubes task, while females are consistently faster than males on the hands task. In contrast, pupillometry reveals striking a sex difference, with males showing significantly lower pupil dilation during the cubes task, suggesting less cognitive effort for comparable behavioural performance. This difference is attenuated during the MR of hands, in line with recent findings that sex differences in spatial abilities dissipate when elements of social perspective taking are introduced. Taxonomy: Attention, Perception.
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The authors of Campbell et al. (2018) suggested pupil dilation was a proxy for cognitive effort.
“which the authors suggested was a proxy for cognitive effort”
From Factors Related to Mean Score Group Differences on Cognitive Ability Tests: A Systematic Review (2025) · cites this paper as Campbell et al. (2018)
Campbell et al. (2018) found women showed greater pupil dilation in a spatial task.
“Campbell et al. (2018)found women showed greater pupil dilation in a spatial task”
From Factors Related to Mean Score Group Differences on Cognitive Ability Tests: A Systematic Review (2025) · cites this paper as Campbell et al. (2018)
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Cortical modulation of pupillary function: systematic review
Peinkhofer, C., Knudsen, G. M., Moretti, R., & Kondziella, D. (2019) · PeerJ · doi:10.7717/peerj.6882 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
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“Based on previous literature that used pupillometry to investigate sex differences during cognitive effort for similar behavioral performance [24, 25], we included some additional comparisons between male and female participants with respect to pupil size during the fixation task.”
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Self-citationExploring the cognitive mechanisms of expertise in sport: Progress and prospects
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“In addition, as there is evidence to support sex-related differences in mental rotation tasks (Voyer et al., 1995; Campbell et al., 2018), the current study may reflect sex-specific findings, as our sample was predominantly female.”
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“Using hands as stimuli, Voyer, Jansen, et al. (2017) found better performance for men, whereas Campbell et al. (2018) detected possibly better performance for women.”
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“Although previous studies have provided insights into eye movement characteristics in mental rotation tasks, these findings have mainly used 2D images presented on computer screens (Xue et al., 2017; Campbell et al., 2018).”
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Is accommodation a confounder in pupillometry research?
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“In Campbell et al. (2018), women showed higher cognitive load – or used more attentional resources – than men in mental rotation tasks of abstract figures.”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialStimulus-specific influence of gender on mental-rotation-related brain activity
Bersier, N. M., Rumiati, R., & Ionta, S. (2025) · Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience · doi:10.3758/s13415-025-01325-w · Cited by 3 · see citing works
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DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN IN COGNITIVE STRATEGIES APPLIED IN MENTAL ROTATION TASKS
Zawadzka, E. (2022) · Acta Neuropsychologica · doi:10.5604/01.3001.0015.9186 · Cited by 3
“Campbell et al. (2018) demonstrated that women with high level of confidence in their ability to perform mental rotation realized the tasks in a similar way as men (cf. Toth & Campbell, 2019).”
ResultConcerns about cognitive performance at chance level
Jost, L. (2021) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-021-93953-8 · Cited by 3
The effect of bipolar bihemispheric tDCS on executive function and working memory abilities
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A short mindfulness induction might increase women’s mental rotation performance
Bauer, R., & Jansen, P. (2024) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2024.103721 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“Considering that the measures of cognitive effort differ between this study and Campbell et al. (2018), our findings did neither confirm their results nor those of Jost et al. (2023), as no differences emerged.”
Factors Related to Mean Score Group Differences on Cognitive Ability Tests: A Systematic Review
Cuppello, S., Zibarras, L. D., & Corr, P. J. (2025) · Trends in Psychology · doi:10.1007/s43076-025-00504-5
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Task-Evoked Pupillary Dynamics Are Altered in Post-COVID Syndrome
Smit, A., Fleischmann, P., Knauer, T., Mardin, C., Michelson, G., Zott, J., Güttes, M., Sarmiento, H., Ilgner, M., Jakobi, M., et al. (2026) · Medical Science · doi:10.3390/medsci14020269
“Male sex was associated with higher values with an overall inconsistent study situation regarding sex-related differences in pupillometry [43,45–48].”
An Exploratory Study of Gender Effects on Pupillary Cognitive Load in Human–Robot Interaction
Otarbay, Z., Kyzyrkanov, A., Tursynova, N., Amirov, A., & Saltanat, A. (2026) · 2026 IEEE 6th International Conference on Smart Information Systems and Technologies (SIST) · doi:10.1109/sist61674.2026.11596010
The effect of internal and external visualization of rotation on postural stability
Jost, L., Siebertz, M., Hofmann, P., & Jansen, P. (2024) · Frontiers in Cognition · doi:10.3389/fcogn.2024.1356441
Reply to: "Concerns about cognitive performance at chance level"
Toth, A. J., & Campbell, M. (2021) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-021-93954-7
Self-citationPeer Review #2 of "Cortical modulation of pupillary function: systematic review (v0.1)"
Peinkhofer, C., Knudsen, G., Moretti, R., Kondziella, D., Equal, C., Laeng, B., Sirois, S., Gredebck, G., Granholm, E., Steinhauer, S., et al. (2019) · PeerJ · doi:10.7287/peerj.6882v0.1/reviews/2
Xu, H.-X., Wang, L.-J., Wang, Y., & Zhao, Y.-Z. (2026) · IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement · doi:10.1109/tim.2026.3720878
“Di ff erences in pupil responses have also been reported, with one psychological study showing significantly smaller pupil dilation in men than in women during the same cognitive task [83].”
- Authors
- Campbell, M. J., Toth, A. J., & Brady, N.
- Affiliations
- University of Limerick (IE)
- University College Dublin (IE)
- Corresponding author
- Toth, Adam J.
- Venue
- Biological Psychology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-10
- Volume
- 138
- Pages
- 19-26
- ISSN
- 0301-0511 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2886551932
- Cited by
- 39
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 2.39
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Biological Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Science Foundation Ireland (13/RC/2094)
- European Regional Development Fund
- Southern & Eastern Regional Operational Programme to Lero - the Irish Software Research Centre
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Spatial Cognition and Navigation
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills
- Keywords
- sex differences, mental rotation, spatial ability, pupillometry, pupil dilation, cognitive effort, reaction time, human hand, perspective taking, gender differences in cognition
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Attention, Cognition, Female, Humans, Male, Pupil, Reaction Time, Sex Factors, Task Performance and Analysis, Eye Movement Measurements
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