Effects of Age and Sex in Mental Rotation and Spatial Learning from Virtual Environments
Abstract
The study examined the age and sex effects in spatial learning and mental rotation in 58 adults. We developed two new spatial learning tasks using virtual reality (VR): a navigation task and a pointing task. The results show that younger adults outperformed older adults in both virtual tasks but not in mental rotation. Males outperformed females in the navigation task and mental rotation. We conclude that age generally drives differences in spatial learning, and that sex drives differences in spatial abilities, which were especially related to ability in navigating through virtual environments.
References
(2004). Sex differences and correlations in a virtual Morris water task, a virtual radial arm maze, and mental rotation. Behavioral Brain Research, 151, 103–115.
(2003). The aging hippocampus: Cognitive, biochemical and structural findings. Cerebral Cortex, 13, 1344–1351.
(2005). Virtual navigation in humans: The impact of age, sex, and hormones on place learning. Hormones and Behavior, 47, 326–335.
(2005). Transfer of spatial knowledge to a two-level shopping mall in older people, following virtual exploration. Environment and Behavior, 37, 275–292.
(2008). A note on sex differences in mental rotation in different age groups. Intelligence, 36, 556–563.
(2002). Older adults map novel environments but do not place learn: Findings from computerized spatial task. Aging Neuropsychology and Cognition, 9, 85–97.
(1999). Gender differences in pointing accuracy in computer-simulated 3D mazes. Sex Roles, 40, 73–92.
(2004). Pointing to an allocentric and egocentric remembered target in younger and older adults. Experimental Aging Research, 30, 391–406.
(1985). Emergence and characterization of sex differences in spatial ability: A meta-analysis. Child Development, 56, 1479–1498.
(1999). Human navigation by path integration. In , Wayfinding behavior: Cognitive mapping and other spatial processes (pp. 125–151). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
(1993). Is the gender difference in mental rotation disappearing? Behavior Genetics, 23, 337–341.
(2002). Effects of age on virtual environment place navigation and allocentric cognitive mapping. Behavioral Neuroscience, 116, 851–859.
(1984). Developments of a water-maze procedure for studying spatial learning in the rat. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 11, 47–60.
(2007). Sex differences in visual-spatial learning using a virtual water maze in prepubertal children. Behavioral Brain Research, 183, 1–7.
(1978). The hippocampus as a cognitive map. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(1995). A redrawn Vandenberg and Kuse Mental Rotations Test: Different versions and factors that affect performance. Brain and Cognition, 28, 39–58.
(2002). Girls’ spatial abilities: Charting the contributions of experiences and attitudes in different academic groups. The British Journal of Educational Psychology, 72, 245–260.
(1995). Magnitude of sex differences in spatial abilities: A meta-analysis and consideration of critical variables. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 250–270.
(2000). Individual differences in spatial learning from computer-simulated environments. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 6, 307–321.
(2006). Transient and enduring spatial representations under disorientation and self-rotation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 32, 867–882.
(2002). Human spatial representation: Insights from animals. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 6, 376–382.
