Miola Laura, Muffato Veronica, Pazzaglia Francesca, Meneghetti Chiara
Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Front Psychol. 2023 Feb 23;14:1130549. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1130549. eCollection 2023.
Individual factors can play a relevant role in explaining gender differences in environmental learning in terms of visuospatial abilities and beliefs about spatial abilities, such as stereotypes and growth mindset about navigation ability. In this study, we aim to investigate how mental rotation ability and spatial beliefs interact in the acquisition of egocentric and allocentric spatial knowledge. A sample of 244 participants (140 women) completed individual difference measures, including a mental rotation test (MRT) and questionnaires on gender stereotypes and growth mindsets about navigation ability. Participants then learned a specific route in a virtual environment and performed an egocentric pointing task and an allocentric pointing task. Men performed better in mental rotation and egocentric pointing tasks. Moreover, mental rotation ability predicted both egocentric and allocentric pointing performance; growth mindset predicted allocentric pointing. In general, these results suggest that, despite gender differences in some spatial measures, cognitive abilities and beliefs contribute to supporting environmental knowledge in both men and women.
在视觉空间能力以及关于空间能力的信念（如对导航能力的刻板印象和成长型思维模式）方面，个体因素在解释环境学习中的性别差异时可能发挥相关作用。在本研究中，我们旨在调查心理旋转能力和空间信念在自我中心和他我中心空间知识获取过程中是如何相互作用的。244名参与者（140名女性）的样本完成了个体差异测量，包括心理旋转测试（MRT）以及关于性别刻板印象和对导航能力的成长型思维模式的问卷。参与者随后在虚拟环境中学习一条特定路线，并执行自我中心指向任务和他我中心指向任务。男性在心理旋转和自我中心指向任务中表现更好。此外，心理旋转能力预测了自我中心和他我中心指向表现；成长型思维模式预测了他我中心指向。总体而言，这些结果表明，尽管在某些空间测量方面存在性别差异，但认知能力和信念有助于支持男性和女性的环境知识。
