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Sex differences in visuo-spatial processing: An fMRI study of mental rotation
Abstract
Following the theoretical framework of coordinate and categorical principals for visuo-spatial processing, originally formulated by [Kosslyn, S. M. (1987). Seeing and imagining in the cerebral hemispheres: AQ computational approach. Psychological Review, 94, 148-175], we present data from an fMRI study on mental rotation, using the classic [Shepard, R. N., & Metzler, J. (1971). Mental rotation of three-dimensional objects. Science, 171, 701-703] task, comparing males and females. Subjects were presented with black-and-white drawings of 3-D shapes taken from the set of 3-D perspective drawings developed by [Shepard, R. N., & Metzler, J. (1971). Mental rotation of three-dimensional objects. Science, 171, 701-703], alternated with 2-D white bars as control stimuli. The drawings were presented pairwise, as black and white drawings against a black circular background. On half of the trials, the two 3-D shapes were congruent but portrayed with different orientation, in the other half the two shapes were incongruent. Analysis of response accuracy and reaction times did not reveal any significant differences between the sexes. However, clusters of significant neuronal activation were found in the superior parietal lobule (BA 7), more intensely over the right hemisphere, and bilaterally in the inferior frontal gyrus (BA 44/45). Males showed predominantly parietal activation, while the females, in addition, showed inferior frontal activation. We suggest that males may be biased towards…
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“Several used brain scans during testing and found brain activation differences between women and men (e.g., Gur et al., 2000;Hugdahl et al., 2006;Jaušovec & Jaušovec, 2012;Jordan et al., 2002).”
From Factors Related to Mean Score Group Differences on Cognitive Ability Tests: A Systematic Review (2025) · cites this paper as Hugdahl et al., 2006
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“from its perceived orientation to the orientation of its mate, (c) serial comparisons between the mentally rotated object’s shape and the perceived unrotated object’s shape, and (d) a decision on whether the shapes match or not (see, e.g. Hugdahl et al. 2006; Parsons 2001).”
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“The cultural bias toward visuomotor processing apparent in these studies has become evident from the fact that most have investigated activations elicited either by the visual perception of printed notation (Itoh et al., 2001) or the aural perception of memorized music (Parsons et al., 2005).”
Spatiotemporal mapping of sex differences during attentional processing
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“…in female participants relative to their male counterparts even in the absence of significant behavioral differences [Butler et al., 2006; Hugdahl et al., 2006; Weiss et al., 2003]; this activation pattern is thought to be indicative of stronger top–down processing during visuospatial…”
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“For example, Hugdahl et al. (2006) found that men activated the superior parietal lobule during a task of mental rotation, whereas women preferentially employed the inferior frontal.”
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“Several studies have shown that men prefer to use a holistic strategy whereas women prefer an analytical strategy during mental rotation [ 9 ,25].”
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“In-deed In-deed, neuroimaging studies have consistently shown that some brain regions, including the superior parietal and the frontal cortices, were involved with many bilateral activation regions during mathematical [15–17] and visuospatial tasks [18,19].”
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Self-citationPreschoolers' mental rotation of letters: Sex differences in hemispheric asymmetry
Hahn, N., Jansen, P., & Heil, M. (2010) · Cognitive neuroscience · doi:10.1080/17588928.2010.485248 · Cited by 22
“Moreover, mental rotation is accompanied by sex-specific lateralization differences of cortical activity (eg, Hugdahl, Thomsen, & Ersland, 2006 ).”
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“Participants who were either < 18 years of age, (Cavanna and Trimble, 2006) Mental rotation (Harris et al., 2000; Hugdahl et al., 2006; Sladky et al., 2016) Stereopsis (Nishida et al., 2001) Spatial judgments and deductive reasoning (Knauff et al., 2002; Schurz et al., 2013; Waberski et al., 2008)…”
The evolutionary neuroandrogenic theory of criminal behavior expanded
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“…lobule has been shown to have a significant neuronal activation through fMRI and ERP, more intensely in the right hemisphere for mental rotation tasks (Cohen et al. 1996; Harris et al. 2000; Milivojevic et al. 2003; Parsons 2003; Podzebenko et al. 2005; Hugdahl et al. 2006; Gogos et al. 2010).”
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Nadal, M., Flexas, A., Galvez-Pol, A., & Cela‐Conde, C. J. (2012) · RENDICONTI LINCEI · doi:10.1007/s12210-012-0185-1 · Cited by 14
“Hugdahl et al. (2006), for instance, have noted that men tend to use coordinate spatial relations in mental rotation tasks, whereas women tend to process spatial relations in a categorical fashion.”
BackgroundDecreased Parietal Cortex Activity during Mental Rotation in Children with Congenital Hypothyroidism
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“The different cerebral activation between the two groups can be viewed as a different recruitment of these two different systems.Although our data can also be interpreted as due to the different M:F ratio between CH and control children, we do not think that this the case. Hugdahl et al. [”
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Effects of Group Gender Composition on Mental Rotation Test Performance in Women
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The Factorial Structure of Spatial Abilities in Russian and Chinese Students
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“This region is consistently reported to be involved in mental rotation, in particular in male observers (Hugdahl et al. 2006), including mental rotation of bodies and body parts (Tomasino and Gremese 2016).”
BackgroundAutism spectrum disorder, functional MRI and MR spectroscopy: possibilities and challenges
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Men and Women Exhibit a Differential Bias for Processing Movement versus Objects
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Sex differences in visuospatial abilities persist during induced hypogonadism
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Sex differences in large-scale brain network connectivity for mental rotation performance
Zhang, K., Fang, H., Li, Z., Ren, T., Li, B., & Wang, C. (2024) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120807 · Cited by 17
“While some studies reported significant sex differences in brain activation for mental rotation (Butler et al., 2006; Hugdahl et al., 2006; Voyer et al., 1995), others failed to detect such sex difference in brain activation (Bell et al., 2006; Halari et al., 2006).”
BackgroundResultKirby, E., Andrushko, J., Rinat, S., D'Arcy, R. C. N., & Boyd, L. (2024) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-024-56453-z · Cited by 15
Grikšienė, R., Arnatkevičiūtė, A., Mončiunskaitė, R., Koenig, T. W., & Rukšėnas, O. (2019) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-019-55433-y · Cited by 22
Anchoring the Self to the Body in Bilateral Vestibular Failure
Deroualle, D., Toupet, M., Nechel, C. V., Duquesne, U., Hautefort, C., & Lopez, C. (2017) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0170488 · Cited by 25
Fedrizzi, L. (2012) · RENDICONTI LINCEI · doi:10.1007/s12210-012-0177-1 · Cited by 15
“These differences have been proposed to be related to the forms of the processing of spatial relationships among objects: the categorical and the coordinate forms (Hugdahl et al. 2006).”
BackgroundThe case for not combining men and women in neurocognitive studies for schizophrenia.
Jiménez, J., Mancini-Marı̈e, A., & Mendrek, A. (2009) · Schizophrenia Research · doi:10.1016/j.schres.2008.12.007 · Cited by 15
Sexually dimorphic development in the cortical oscillatory dynamics serving early visual processing
Fung, M. H., Taylor, B. K., Lew, B. J., Frenzel, M. R., Eastman, J. A., Wang, Y.-P., Calhoun, V., Stephen, J., & Wilson, T. (2021) · Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.dcn.2021.100968 · Cited by 14
“, 2005; Rubia, 2013), and studies have identified sex-specific developmental patterns of cortical network activity during complex visuospatial processing tasks in youth, such as mental rotation and spatial working memory (Hugdahl et al., 2006; Kucian et al., 2007; Schweinsburg et al., 2005).”
Pletzer, B. (2016) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/srep39064 · Cited by 14
Sex and hemisphere differences when mentally rotating meaningful and meaningless stimuli
Rilea, S. L. (2008) · Laterality · doi:10.1080/13576500701809846 · Cited by 14
“Hugdahl, Thomsen, and Erlsand (2006) suggested that while Brodmann area 7 plays an important role in mental rotation for both men and women, differential activation in the frontal lobes may be the result of men and women using different strategies to complete the task.”
BackgroundEmojis Are Comprehended Better than Facial Expressions, by Male Participants
Nogare, L. D., Cerri, A., & Proverbio, A. M. (2023) · Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.3390/bs13030278 · Cited by 22
“On the other hand, several pieces of evidence suggested an association between the male sex, as well as high testosterone levels, and a better performance in visuo-spatial tasks, including the rotation of 3D shapes [51,52].”
BackgroundWang, S., Li, J.-L., Wang, S., Mi, C., Wang, W., Xu, Z.-J., Xiong, W., Tang, L.-X., & Li, Y.-Z. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.855631 · Cited by 13
“A relationship exists between spatial processing cognitive rates, general intelligence, and mental rotation (39).”
BackgroundAre Creative People Better than Others at Recognizing Creative Work?
Stemler, S., & Kaufman, J. (2020) · Thinking Skills and Creativity · doi:10.1016/j.tsc.2020.100727 · Cited by 13
Rominger, C., Memmert, D., Papousek, I., Perchtold‐Stefan, C. M., Weiss, E. M., Benedek, M., Schwerdtfeger, A. R., & Fink, A. (2020) · Psychology of sport and exercise · doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2020.101748 · Cited by 24
Neurobiological evidence of sexual dimorphism in limbic circuitry of US Veterans.
McGlade, E., Rogowska, J., DiMuzio, J., Bueler, E., Sheth, C., Legarreta, M., & Yurgelun-Todd, D. (2020) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2020.05.016 · Cited by 13
A relational structure of voluntary visual-attention abilities.
Skogsberg, K., Grabowecky, M., Wilt, J. A., Revelle, W., Iordanescu, L., & Suzuki, S. (2015) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037/a0039000 · Cited by 19
Sex-specific lateralization of event-related potential effects during mental rotation of polygons
Pellkofer, J., Jansen, P., & Heil, M. (2014) · NeuroReport · doi:10.1097/wnr.0000000000000198 · Cited by 13
Sex Effect on Presurgical Language Mapping in Patients With a Brain Tumor
Yao, S., Liebenthal, E., Juvekar, P., Bunevičius, A., Vera, M., Rigolo, L., Golby, A. J., & Tie, Y. (2020) · Frontiers in Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnins.2020.00004 · Cited by 15
Sawada, K., Horiuchi-Hirose, M., Saito, S., & Aoki, I. (2015) · Frontiers in Neuroanatomy · doi:10.3389/fnana.2015.00055 · Cited by 12
Photographs of real human figures: Item types and persistent sex differences in mental rotation
Doyle, R. A., & Voyer, D. (2018) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1177/1747021817742079 · Cited by 12
“In support of this hypothesis, sex differences have been observed in the cognitive strategies used during mental rotation (e.g., Geiser, Lehmann, & Eid, 2006; Gluck & Fitting, 2003; Heil & Jansen-Osmann, 2008; Hugdahl et al., 2006; Jordan et al., 2002; Peters et al., 1995; Tzuriel & Egozi, 2010).”
MethodThe fMRI correlates of visuo-spatial abilities: sex differences and gender dysphoria
Gavazzi, G., Fisher, A. D., Orsolini, S., Bianchi, A., Romani, A., Giganti, F., Giovannelli, F., Ristori, J., Mazzoli, F., Maggi, M., et al. (2022) · Brain Imaging and Behavior · doi:10.1007/s11682-022-00638-5 · Cited by 14
“Neuroimaging investigations revealed that during a Mental Rotation Test (MRT), men activate parietal cortex more than women who, in their turn, exhibit a more marked activation in the inferior frontal cortex (Hugdahl et al., 2006).”
BackgroundMethodMoè, A. (2021) · Learning and Instruction · doi:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2021.101461 · Cited by 16
Sex Differences in Associations between Spatial Ability and Corpus Callosum Morphology
Kurth, F., Spencer, D., Hines, M., & Luders, E. (2018) · Journal of Neuroscience Research · doi:10.1002/jnr.24260 · Cited by 11
“…interpretations from previous studies suggesting some differences in the approaches used by men and women to solve mental rotation problems (Boone & Hegarty, 2017; Butler et al., 2006; Clements-Stephens et al., 2009; Hegarty, 2017; Hugdahl et al., 2006; Jordan et al., 2002; Thomsen et al., 2000).”
MethodResultDeadlines in space: Selective effects of coordinate spatial processing in multitasking
Todorov, I., Missier, F. D., Konke, L. A., & Mäntylä, T. (2015) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/s13421-015-0529-z · Cited by 10
Mikhailova, E. S., Slavutskaya, A. V., & Gerasimenko, N. (2012) · Neuroscience Letters · doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2012.07.005 · Cited by 11
Jausovec, N. (2012) · NeuroReport · doi:10.1097/wnr.0b013e328351dd9a · Cited by 11
Are There Sex Differences in the Genetic and Environmental Effects on Mental Rotation Ability?
Vuoksimaa, E., Viken, R. J., Hokkanen, L., Tuulio‐Henriksson, A., Rose, R. J., & Kaprio, J. A. (2010) · Twin Research and Human Genetics · doi:10.1375/twin.13.5.437 · Cited by 11
“…imaging studies have suggested that different brain regions are activated in females and males while performing the mental rotation test (e.g., Butler et al., 2007; ClementsStephens et al., 2009; Hugdahl et al., 2006), which could reflect underlying sex-specific genetic or environmental effects.”
BackgroundAlRyalat, S. A. (2017) · Journal of Integrative Neuroscience · doi:10.3233/jin-170015 · Cited by 13
Neurotransmitter Interactions and Cognitive Function
Pokorski, M. (2015) · Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-10006-7 · Cited by 11
Shiratsuchi, D., Makizako, H., Nakai, Y., Bae, S., Lee, S., Kim, H., Matsuzaki-Kihara, Y., Miyano, I., Ota, H., & Shimada, H. (2022) · Aging Clinical and Experimental Research · doi:10.1007/s40520-022-02235-4 · Cited by 10
A connectivity model of the anatomic substrates underlying Gerstmann syndrome
Shahab, Q. S., Young, I. M., Dadario, N. B., Tanglay, O., Nicholas, P. J., Lin, Y., Fonseka, R. D., Yeung, J. T., Bai, M. Y., Teo, C., et al. (2022) · Brain Communications · doi:10.1093/braincomms/fcac140 · Cited by 16
Sex differences in endogenous cortical network activity: spontaneously recurring Up/Down states
Sigalas, C., Konsolaki, E., & Skaliora, I. (2017) · Biology of Sex Differences · doi:10.1186/s13293-017-0143-9 · Cited by 9
Raimundo da Silva, S., Oku, A. Y. A., Barreto, C. S. F., & Sato, J. R. (2024) · Behavioural Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2024.115288 · Cited by 9
Sex differences in patterns of white matter neuroplasticity after balance training in young adults
Kirby, E. D., Andrushko, J. W., Boyd, L. A., Koschutnig, K., & D’Arcy, R. C. N. (2024) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2024.1432830 · Cited by 8
“This structural evidence aligns with functional studies highlighting variations in fMRI activation patterns between females and males during similar task performance (Hugdahl et al., 2006; Lissek et al., 2007; Gorbet and Sergio, 2007; Andrushko et al., 2023).”
ResultMcGivern, R. F., Mosso, M., Freudenberg, A., & Handa, R. J. (2019) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0210272 · Cited by 14
Two Speed Factors of Visual Recognition Independently Correlated with Fluid Intelligence
Tachibana, R. O., Namba, Y., & Noguchi, Y. (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0097429 · Cited by 9
“IT) reflects a function of the ventral pathway [14], while the rotation of mental images is mainly processed in the dorsal pathway [19,20,22].”
BackgroundThe effects of exogenous testosterone on spatial memory in rats
Hodosy, J., Pales, J., Ostatníková, D., & Celec, P. (2010) · Central European Journal of Biology · doi:10.2478/s11535-010-0037-x · Cited by 9
“Functional MRI revealed that while solving the same 3D task, men were predominantly activating parietal areas, while women appeared to use the inferior frontal areas [3].”
BackgroundZhu, R.-J., Wang, Z.-Y., & You, X.-Q. (2020) · Neurosciences research · doi:10.1016/j.neures.2020.09.003 · Cited by 8
Effect of Complexity on Frontal Event Related Desynchronisation in Mental Rotation Task
Sharma, G., Daniel, R. V., Chandra, S., & Singh, R. P. (2019) · Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback · doi:10.1007/s10484-019-09436-0 · Cited by 10
Metadata
- Authors
- Hugdahl, K., Thomsen, T., & Ersland, L.
- Affiliations
- Haukeland University Hospital (NO)
- Corresponding author
- Hugdahl, Kenneth
- ORCID
- Hugdahl, Kenneth
- Venue
- Neuropsychologia
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2006-01
- Volume
- 44
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1575-1583
- ISSN
- 0028-3932 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1978753300
- Cited by
- 368
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 73 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 28 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 23 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 23
- FWCI
- 48.25
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Neuropsychologia (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Spatial Cognition and Navigation
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Spatial Neglect and Hemispheric Dysfunction
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Keywords
- sex differences, mental rotation, visuospatial processing, superior parietal lobule, inferior frontal gyrus, hemispheric lateralization, brain activation
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Female, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Imagination, Functional Laterality, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Oxygen, Photic Stimulation, Psychomotor Performance, Reaction Time, Sex Characteristics, Space Perception, Visual Perception
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