Voyer Daniel, Rodgers Marguerite A, McCormick Peter A
Department of Psychology, University of New Brunswick, Bag Service #45444, Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 6E4, Canada.
Mem Cognit. 2004 Jan;32(1):72-82. doi: 10.3758/bf03195821.
In two experiments, we examined the effect of timing conditions on the magnitude of gender differences in performance on the Mental Rotations Test (MRT). In Experiment 1, each of 196 females and 119 males was administered the MRT via a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation in one of five timing conditions (15, 20, 25, 30, and 40 sec). The participants were exposed to each MRT item for the period specified in the assigned timing condition. Experiment 2 was conducted to address flaws found in Experiment 1. Accordingly, each of 105 females and 105 males was individually administered the task in one of three timing conditions (15 sec, 25 sec, or unlimited duration). The results of both experiments showed that the magnitude of gender differences was similar across timing conditions when a conventional scoring method was used. An analysis of guessing behavior generally indicated that men tend to show little effect of timing conditions, whereas women's propensity to guess increases when they are given more time to respond. In general, the results supported an interpretation of gender differences on the MRT that relies on the joint operation of performance factors and level of spatial ability.
在两项实验中，我们研究了时间条件对心理旋转测试（MRT）表现中性别差异大小的影响。在实验1中，196名女性和119名男性中的每一位都通过Microsoft PowerPoint演示文稿在五种时间条件（15、20、25、30和40秒）之一的情况下接受MRT测试。参与者在指定的时间条件下接触每个MRT项目。进行实验2是为了解决在实验1中发现的缺陷。因此，105名女性和105名男性中的每一位都在三种时间条件（15秒、25秒或无限制时间）之一的情况下单独接受该任务。两项实验的结果均表明，当使用传统评分方法时，不同时间条件下的性别差异大小相似。对猜测行为的分析总体表明，男性往往受时间条件的影响较小，而女性在有更多时间做出反应时猜测的倾向会增加。总体而言，结果支持了一种对MRT上性别差异的解释，该解释依赖于表现因素和空间能力水平的共同作用。
