Department of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, Kyorin University, Tokyo, Japan.
Faculty of Rehabilitation, School of Healthcare, Fujita Health University, Mie, Japan.
PLoS One. 2019 Jul 26;14(7):e0220414. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0220414. eCollection 2019.
This study explored gender differences in correct response rates and response times on a task involving left or right arrow selection and another involving the transformation of mental rotation of the hand. We recruited 15 healthy, right-handed men (age 24.5 ± 6.4) and 15 healthy, right-handed women (age 21.3 ± 4.9). For the tasks, we used pictures of left and right arrows and 32 hand pictures (left and right, palm and back) placed in cons (each at 45° from 0° to 315°). Hand and arrow pictures alternated and were shown at random. Participants decided as quickly as possible whether each picture was left or right. To compare the time taken for the transformation of mental rotation of the hand, we subtracted the average arrow response time from that for the left and right hand pictures for each participant. Correct response rates did not differ significantly between men and women or left and right for either arrow or hand pictures. Regardless of gender, the response time was longer for the left arrow picture than right arrow picture. The response time for the hand picture was longest for both men and women for pictures at rotation angles that were most difficult to align with participants' hands. While there was no difference between men's responses for left and right hand pictures, the responses of women were longer for left than right hand pictures and also than those of men. These findings suggest that both men and women mainly perform the hand mental rotation task with implicit motor imagery. On the other hand, the gender difference in performance might be explained by the difference in balance with other strategies, such as visual imagery, and by cognitive, neurophysiological, and morphological differences.
本研究探讨了在涉及左或右箭头选择的任务以及涉及手心理旋转转换的另一任务中，正确反应率和反应时间的性别差异。我们招募了 15 名健康的右撇子男性（年龄 24.5 ± 6.4）和 15 名健康的右撇子女性（年龄 21.3 ± 4.9）。对于任务，我们使用了左和右箭头的图片和 32 张手的图片（左手和右手，手掌和背面）放置在 cons 中（每个角度在 0°到 315°之间，每个角度相隔 45°）。手和箭头图片交替出现，随机显示。参与者尽快决定每张图片是左还是右。为了比较手心理旋转转换的时间，我们从每个参与者的左手和右手图片的平均箭头反应时间中减去。无论是男性还是女性，无论是箭头还是手图片，正确反应率都没有显著差异。无论性别如何，左箭头图片的反应时间都比右箭头图片长。对于男性和女性来说，最难与参与者的手对齐的旋转角度的手图片的反应时间最长。虽然男性对左手和右手图片的反应没有差异，但女性的反应时间比男性长，比左手图片长，比右手图片长。这些发现表明，男性和女性主要使用内隐运动意象来执行手心理旋转任务。另一方面，性能上的性别差异可以通过与其他策略（如视觉意象）的平衡差异以及认知、神经生理和形态差异来解释。
