The DOI matches its Crossref record; 2 of the 2 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
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 (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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Items 101–140 of 140
Erfassung mentaler Rotationsleistungen im Grundschulalter
Bott, H., Poltz, N., & Ehlert, A. (2023) · Diagnostica · doi:10.1026/0012-1924/a000309 · Cited by 3
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
“The piecemeal strategy may cause difficulty in the case of more complex shapes, because it involves encoding, rotation and comparison of a greater number of individual properties (Heil & Jansen-Osmann, 2008; Levine et al., 2016).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialInfluence of memory processes on choice-consistency
Nitsch, F., & Kalenscher, T. (2021) · Royal Society Open Science · doi:10.1098/rsos.200308 · Cited by 3
Identifying solution strategies in a mentalrotation test with gender-stereotyped objects
Saunders, M., & Quaiser-Pohl, C. (2021) · Journal of Eye Movement Research · doi:10.16910/jemr.13.6.5 · Cited by 3
“In regard to the fact that in mental rotation tasks the strategies described in the literature seem to differ according to gender (e.g. Heil & Jansen-Osmann, 2008; Nazareth et al., 2018; Voyer et al., 2020).”
MethodWhich properties of the visual stimuli predict the type of representation used in mental rotation?
Zhao, B.-L., Zhu, C., & Sala, S. D. (2019) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1177/1747021819846832 · Cited by 3
“Individual differences in MR have been accounted for in terms of age (Dror, Schmitz-Williams, & Smith, 2005), gender (Heil & Jansen-Osmann, 2008), spatial skills (Khooshabeh, Hegarty, & Shipley, 2013) as well as vividness of visual imagery (Zhao & Della Sala, 2018) in behavioural (Dror et al.,…”
Gray Matter Correlates of Finger Gnosis in Children: A VBM Study.
Soylu, F., Seo, R., Newman, M. M., & Newman, S. (2019) · Neuroscience · doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2019.01.032 · Cited by 3
“For example, Heil and Jansen-Osmann (2008) showed that the mental rotation speed of males did not increase with the complexity of the shapes (measured as the number of the vertices on the shape), where the speed decreased with females.”
BackgroundImproving Spatial Visualization Abilities using 3D Printed Blocks
LeBow, V., Bernhardt-Barry, M., & Datta, J. (2018) · doi:10.18260/1-2--30634 · Cited by 3
“[9] Heil and Jansen-Osmann [9] attributed this lag to differences in the mental approach that males and females take.”
BackgroundLateralization of event‐related potential effects during mental rotation of polygons
Pellkofer, J., Jansen, P., & Heil, M. (2012) · NeuroReport · doi:10.1097/wnr.0b013e3283540330 · Cited by 3
Self-citationThe mental representation in mental rotation : its content, timing, and neuronal source
Liesefeld, H. (2012) · Publications of the UdS (Saarland University) · doi:10.22028/d291-23353 · Cited by 3
Leveraging Eye‐Tracking Technology to Understand How Young Children Solve a Mental Rotation Task
Rodriguez, K. A., Ralph, Y. K., de la Rosa, I. M., Corro, O. P. P., Ochoa, C. D. R., & Pruden, S. M. (2025) · Infant and Child Development · doi:10.1002/icd.70018 · Cited by 4
Li, J.-J., Man, K.-W., & Lakin, J. (2025) · Journal of Intelligence · doi:10.3390/jintelligence13030030 · Cited by 2
Long, H., Wu, H., Sun, C., Xu, X., Yang, X.-H., Xiao, J., Lv, M., Chen, Q., & Fan, M. (2024) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120955 · Cited by 2
Challenges and further directions of research on spatial thinking strategies
Bartseva, K. V., Likhanov, M. V., & Soldatova, E. L. (2023) · Bulletin of Kemerovo State University Series Humanities and Social Sciences · doi:10.21603/2542-1840-2023-7-4-383-398 · Cited by 2
Mental rotation with colored cube figures
Rahe, M., Weigelt, M., & Jansen, P. (2022) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2022.103350 · Cited by 2
Mekânın Temsili: Uzamsal Düşüncenin Zihinsel Döndürme Performansına Etkisi
Bilge, A. R. (2020) · Türk Psikoloji Yazıları · doi:10.31828/tpy1301996120201024m000027 · Cited by 2
“Some studies have found no sex difference (Butler et al., 2006; Heil & Jansen-Osmann 2008; Jordan et al., 2002) and in other studies women were faster.”
ResultSpatial adaptation: modeling a key spatial ability
Lovett, A., & Schultheis, H. (2020) · Spatial Cogn. Comput. · doi:10.1080/13875868.2020.1830994 · Cited by 2
“Additionally, Heil and Jansen-Osmann (2008) found that as images became more complex, women tended to rotate them more slowly, whereas men tended to rotate them at the same speed, suggesting possible gender differences in spatial adaptation. Khooshabeh, Hegarty and Shipley (2012) used an alternate approach to examine…”
BackgroundMental Rotation of Junior High School Students in Terms of Differences Sex
Awalah, E. A., Budiarto, M. T., & Imah, E. M. (2019) · International Journal of Trends in Mathematics Education Research · doi:10.33122/ijtmer.v2i4.68 · Cited by 2
Sex differences in the strategies of haptic object memory in early adulthood
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A Multisensor Dataset of South Asian Post-Graduate Students Working on Mental Rotation Tasks
S., A., Ranganath, S., Khanikar, K., Khan, K., Rajendran, R., & Mitra, R. (2025) · Scientific Data · doi:10.1038/s41597-025-04865-5 · Cited by 1
Fernández-Méndez, L. M., Amores, L. C., Orenes, I., Prieto, A., Rodán, A., Montoro, P. R., Mayas, J., Cabestrero, R., & Contreras, M. J. (2024) · The Journal of general psychology · doi:10.1080/00221309.2024.2433287 · Cited by 1
“Regarding the lack of sex-related effects on ratio, results suggest that men were not more inclined toward a specific type of strategy, contrary to other findings that indicate a preference for holistic strategies among men and piecemeal strategies among women (Heil & Jansen-Osmann, 2008).”
InfluentialInfluence of Boxing Training on Self-Concept and Mental Rotation Performance in Children
Rahe, M., Schaefer, J., Schürmann, L., & Jansen, P. (2024) · Journal of Cognitive Enhancement · doi:10.1007/s41465-024-00297-y · Cited by 5
“…on children: working memory, cognitive flexibility, and attention could have been improved (Alvarez-Bueno et al., 2017; de Greeff et al., 2018; Pfister et al., 2023) or better strategies for solving mental rotation tasks could have been used (Heil & Jansen-Osmann, 2008; Meneghetti et al., 2017).”
Conson, M., Senese, V. P., Zappullo, I., Baiano, C., Warrier, V., Raimo, S., Rauso, B., Salzano, S., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2021) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-506300/v1 · Cited by 1
Two people, one graph: the effect of rotated viewpoints on accessibility of data visualizations
Müller, T., Hesse, F. W., & Meyerhoff, H. S. (2021) · Cognitive Research Principles and Implications · doi:10.1186/s41235-021-00297-y · Cited by 2
“Whether mental rotation tasks are solved using holistic or piece-meal strategies depends on various factors, such as mental rotation ability (Khooshabeh et al., 2013), sex (Heil & Jansen-Osmann, 2008), and stimulus familiarity (Bethell-Fox & Shepard, 1988).”
BackgroundSex Differences in Mental Rotation Performance Through Holding Weights By the Hands
Muto, H., Matsushita, S., & Morikawa, K. (2020) · Imagination, Cognition and Personality · doi:10.1177/0276236620952334 · Cited by 1
“Such a global focus might facilitate women’s use of a holistic strategy and improve their performance on mental rotation because women usually take advantage of this strategy less than do men in mental rotation (Heil & Jansen-Osmann, 2008).”
BackgroundMethodDaprati, E., Sirigu, A., Desmurget, M., Martinelli, E., & Nico, D. (2019) · Experimental Brain Research · doi:10.1007/s00221-019-05482-6 · Cited by 1
The process of mental rotation in design: Holistic or piecemeal
Lin, H.-Y., & Hsieh, H.-Y. (2012) · International Congress on Image and Signal Processing · doi:10.1109/cisp.2012.6469883 · Cited by 1
“Heil and Jansen-Osmann found that males and females utilize different strategies in the process of mental rotation.”
BackgroundFactors 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
Sex differences in chronometric mental rotation with human bodies
Voyer, D., & Jansen, P. (2015) · Psychological Research · doi:10.1007/s00426-015-0701-x · Cited by 46
Framing the figure: Mental rotation revisited in light of cognitive strategies
Bilge, A. R., & Taylor, H. A. (2016) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/s13421-016-0648-1 · Cited by 27
“It is important to note that our findings replicated the classic angular disparity effect (ADE; e.g., Blough & Slavin, 1987; Collins & Kimura, 1997; Cooper, 1975; Heil & Jansen-Osmann, 2008; Kail et al. , 1979; Maccoby & Jacklin, 1974; Shepard & Metzler, 1971).”
BackgroundAlon, U. (2026) · The Journal of Genetic Psychology · doi:10.1080/00221325.2026.2745862
Liu, Y., & Lourenco, S. F. (2026) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2026.106723
Nanova, P. (2026) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2026.1777556
Lennon-Maslin, M., Ruthsatz, V., & Quaiser-Pohl, C. (2026) · Discover Sustainability · doi:10.1007/s43621-026-04199-1
“One possible explanation involves differences in problem-solving strategies, with some research suggesting that girls and women may more frequently employ analytic or verbally mediated approaches during mental rotation tasks [44–46].”
Feng, T., Wei, Y.-X., Liang, M., & Li, Y. (2026) · BMC Psychology · doi:10.1186/s40359-026-04099-z
“On the other hand, Heil and Jansen-Osmann [34] found that males mentally rotated more holistically because their rotational speed was independent of stimulus complexity.”
Chen, S. Y., Liu, Y.-H., & Deng, Q.-L. (2026) · International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1080/10447318.2026.2623226
“Males often favor holistic processing, whereas females are more inclined toward piecemeal processing (Heil & Jansen-Osmann, 2008).”
Infant's recognition of three‐dimensional form: Mirror image and structurally distinct objects
Hawkins, L. B., Nyman, T., & Wilcox, T. (2021) · Infant and Child Development · doi:10.1002/icd.2299 · Cited by 1
Sex Differences during Visual Tracking and Emotion Recognition
Gosavi, R. S., Chang, V. W., McGivern, R., & Pineda, J. (2015) · Journal of Education Society and Behavioural Science · doi:10.9734/bjesbs/2015/16900
“[5,9,32-35].”
BackgroundZaroff, C. M. (2015) · Issues of diversity in clinical neuropsychology. · doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-7615-4_1
Metadata
- 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
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Spatial Cognition and Navigation
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills
- Social Sciences › Linguistics and Language › 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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