Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
Department of Psychology, Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, CA 91711, USA.
Trends Cogn Sci. 2014 Jan;18(1):37-45. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2013.10.011. Epub 2013 Nov 16.
Surprising new findings indicate that many conclusions about sex differences and similarities in cognitive abilities need to be reexamined. Cognitive sex differences are changing, decreasing for some tasks whereas remaining stable or increasing for other tasks. Some sex differences are detected in infancy, but the data are complex and depend on task characteristics. Diverse disciplines have revolutionized our understanding of why these differences exist. For instance, fraternal-twin studies align with earlier literature to help establish the role of prenatal androgens and large international datasets help explain how cultural factors such as economic prosperity and gender equity affect females and males differently. Understanding how biological and environmental factors interact could help maximize cognitive potential and address pressing societal issues.
令人惊讶的新发现表明，许多关于认知能力性别差异和相似性的结论需要重新审视。认知性别差异正在发生变化，某些任务的性别差异正在缩小，而其他任务的性别差异则保持稳定或增加。一些性别差异在婴儿期就被发现，但数据复杂，取决于任务特点。不同学科彻底改变了我们对这些差异存在原因的理解。例如，异卵双胞胎研究与早期文献一致，有助于确定产前雄激素的作用，而大型国际数据集则有助于解释经济繁荣和性别平等等文化因素如何对女性和男性产生不同的影响。了解生物和环境因素如何相互作用，可以帮助最大限度地发挥认知潜力，并解决紧迫的社会问题。
