Sex Differences in Mental Rotation with Polygons of Different Complexity: Do Men Utilize Holistic Processes whereas Women Prefer Piecemeal Ones?
Abstract
Sex differences in mental rotation were investigated as a function of stimulus complexity with a sample size of N = 72. Replicating earlier findings with polygons, mental rotation was faster for males than for females, and reaction time increased with more complex polygons. Additionally, sex differences increased for complex polygons. Most importantly, however, mental rotation speed decreased with increasing complexity for women but did not change for men. Thus, the sex effects reflect a difference in strategy, with women mentally rotating the polygons in an analytic, piecemeal fashion and men using a holistic mode of mental rotation.
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Several papers have found women use different, often piecemeal, strategies in spatial tasks.
“Several papers have found women use different, often piecemeal, strategies in spatial tasks (Cherney & Collaer, 2005;Heil & Jansen-Osmann, 2008;Picucci et al., 2011)”
From Factors Related to Mean Score Group Differences on Cognitive Ability Tests: A Systematic Review (2025) · cites this paper as Heil & Jansen-Osmann, 2008
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Jacobs, O., Andrinopoulos, K., Steeves, J., & Kingstone, A. (2024) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0314270 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Sex, menstrual cycle, and hormonal contraceptives influences on global-local processing.
Marful, A., Paolieri, D., & Bernal, A. (2021) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105430 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“According to the suggestion that women process the information more locally and men more globally (Heil and Jansen-Osmann, 2008; Peña et al., 2008; Pletzer et al., 2013; Rilea, 2008; for a review, see Pletzer, 2014), a reduced GA effect is expected in women according to Roalf et al.”
BackgroundMuto, H. (2021) · Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1027/1618-3169/a000505 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“In particular, given sex differences in mental rotation strategies (e.g., Heil & Jansen-Osmann, 2008), and their potential effects on the human-body advantage (e.g., Makinae et al., 2015; Makinae & Kasai, 2017; Voyer & Jansen, 2016), we cannot rule out that the mechanisms of the human-body…”
BackgroundMental rotation of cubes with a snake face: The role of the human-body analogy revisited
Muto, H., & Nagai, M. (2020) · Visual Cognition · doi:10.1080/13506285.2020.1727598 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Physical Touch-Based Rotation Processes of Primary School Students
Bertel, S., Wetzel, S., & Zander, S. (2016) · Spatial Cognition · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-68189-4_2 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Biggio, M. N., Vázquez, S. M., & García, S. M. (2015) · Actualidades Investigativas en Educación · doi:10.15517/aie.v15i1.17735 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
The effect of disrupting configural information on rats' performance in the Morris water maze
Civile, C., Chamizo, V. D., Mackintosh, N., & Mclaren, I. P. L. (2014) · Learning and Motivation · doi:10.1016/j.lmot.2014.07.001 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“While exploring sex differences, similar inconsistencies related to the material used have also being found in humans (Heil & Jansen-Osmann, 2008; JansenOsmann & Heil, 2007) using mental rotation tasks and different stimuli.”
BackgroundThe effect of autistic traits on disembedding and mental rotation in neurotypical women and men
Conson, M., Senese, V. P., Zappullo, I., Baiano, C., Warrier, V., Barone, A., Cecere, R., Cisone, A., Cerrone, R., Crocetto, Y., et al. (2022) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-022-08497-2 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Rahe, M., Ruthsatz, V., Schürmann, L., & Quaiser-Pohl, C. M. (2019) · Journal of Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1080/20445911.2019.1621872 · Cited by 9 · see citing works
Sex differences in mental rotation: Cortical functional connectivity using direct transfer function
Sharma, G., Anto, A., & Singh, V. (2018) · Biomedical Signal Processing and Control · doi:10.1016/j.bspc.2017.10.007 · Cited by 6
Searle, J. A., & Hamm, J. (2015) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/s13421-015-0540-4 · Cited by 6
Various Spatial Skills, Gender Differences, and Transferability of Spatial Skills
Wang, L. (2016) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-44385-0_5 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Automatic- and Transformer-Based Automatic Item Generation: A Critical Review
Sommer, M., & Arendasy, M. (2025) · Journal of Intelligence · doi:10.3390/jintelligence13080102 · Cited by 5
“…posits that test-takers use various solution strategies that differ in their effectiveness and efficiency (e.g., Bethell-Fox et al. 1984; Fehringer 2020; Heil and Jansen-Osmann 2008; Heil et al. 1998; Jarosz and Wiley 2012; Liu et al. 2023b, 2025; Verguts and De Boeck 2002; Vigneau et al. 2006).”
Kinds of individuals defined by patterns of variables
Kagan, J. (2018) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s095457941800055x · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“…the person to hold schemata of different forms in visual working memory long enough to decide if they are versions of the same or different forms (Bergold, Wendt, Kasper, & Steinmayr, 2017; Handa & McGivern, 2015; Heil & Jansen-Osmann, 2008; Machin & Pekkarinen, 2008; Nowell & Hedges, 1998).”
BackgroundApproaching behavior reduces gender differences in the mental rotation performance
Jansen, P., Kaltner, S., & Memmert, D. (2016) · Psychological Research · doi:10.1007/s00426-016-0817-7 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Ability and sex differences in spatial thinking: What does the mental rotation test really measure?
Hegarty, M. (2017) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/s13423-017-1347-z · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“…paradigm have suggested that good imagers use holistic mental rotation strategies, whereas poor imagers use piecemeal strategies (e.g., Bethell-Fox & Shepard, 1988; Khooshabeh, Hegarty, & Shipley, 2013), and that men use holistic strategies more than women do (Heil & Jansen-Osmann, 2008).”
BackgroundExploring Latent Constructs through Multimodal Data Analysis
Wang, S., Wu, S.-S., Chen, Y., Fang, L.-Y., Xiao, L., & Li, F.-M. (2024) · Journal of Educational Measurement · doi:10.1111/jedm.12412 · Cited by 4
Investigations into the Cognitive Conceptualization and Similarity Assessment of Spatial Scenes
Wallgrün, J. O., Yang, J.-L., Klippel, A., & Dylla, F. (2012) · International Conference Geographic Information Science · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-33024-7_16 · Cited by 4
“It has been a long debate how humans deal with complexity (Heil & Jansen-Osmann, 2008 ).”
Background
- Authors
- Heil, M., & Jansen-Osmann, P.
- Affiliations
- Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (DE)
- Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany
- ORCID
- Heil, Martin
- Venue
- Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2008-05
- Volume
- 61
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 683-689
- ISSN
- 0033-555X (ISSN-L)
- 1747-0218
- 1747-0226
- OpenAlex
- W2031997641
- Cited by
- 151
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 16.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Spatial Cognition and Navigation
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Language, Metaphor, and Cognition
- Keywords
- sex differences, mental rotation, holistic processing, spatial cognition, reaction time, gender differences in spatial ability
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Cognition, Female, Form Perception, Humans, Imagination, Male, Photic Stimulation, Reaction Time, Rotation, Sex Factors, Space Perception
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