Age and Sex Differences in Verbal and Visuospatial Abilities

Abstract

In order to explore the developmental patterns of sex differences in verbal and visuospatial abilities, the present study investigated sex differences in various cognitive abilities among children and adults. Three hundred and twenty-six children and adults completed a battery of six cognitive tasks testing two sets of abilities: The verbal cognitive battery tested verbal fluency and short-term memory tasks. The visuospatial battery tested mental rotation, localization, and form-completion tasks. Results showed a significant Sex × Age interaction on the mental rotation task, with men outperforming women in the 3D task, but with no sex differences shown in childhood in the 2D task. Sex differences in verbal fluency were found, with girls and women outperforming boys and men in this task. Findings are discussed within an integrative approach of biological as well as environmental factors.

Keywords: cognitive abilities; developmental pattern; sex differences.

Figure 1

Age × Sex pyramid diagram.

Figure 2

2D mental rotation test (Gordon, 1986). Item example.

Figure 3

3D mental rotation test (Shepard & Metzler, 1971). Item example.

Table 1

Correlations

Table 2

Means (SD, z-Scores, Raw Scores) and Cohen's d For Sex Differences in Verbal and Visuospatial Cognitive Abilities

Figure 4

Means (± SE) of z-scores for verbal cognitive tasks: serial sounds, serial digits, and verbal fluency; for visuospatial cognitive tasks: mental rotation, localization, and form completion.