Comparing matching ability, spatial memory, and ideational fluency in boys and girls.

The purpose of our study was to examine whether girls and boys show patterns of problem-solving ability similar to those attributed by Kimura in 1992 to women and men, respectively. Subjects were 28 girls and 24 boys, aged 5-11 years, who were tested individually on matching ability, spatial memory, and ideational fluency, tasks on which women reportedly outperform men. No significant gender differences in these problem-solving abilities were found. On ideational fluency, the youngest girls were seven times more likely than young boys to give whimsical responses, but older girls were then times less likely than older boys to give whimsical responses. These results suggest that the patterns of visuospatial problem-solving abilities that Kimura ascribed to women and men are not present in preadolescent girls and boys.