Browse
Submit Data
Databases
API
Help

Dataset Information

0 Views

0 Connections

0 Citations

0 Reanalyses

0 Downloads

Omics score: 0

Vision contributes to sex differences in spatial cognition and activity interests.

ABSTRACT: Sex differences in a variety of psychological characteristics are well-documented, with substantial research focused on factors that affect their magnitude and causes. Particular attention has focused on mental rotation, a measure of spatial cognition, and on activity interests. We studied whether sex differences in visual perception-luminance contrast thresholds and motion duration thresholds-contribute to sex differences in mental rotation and interest in male-typed activities. We confirmed sex differences in vision, mental rotation, and activity interests in a sample of 132 college students. In novel findings, we showed that vision correlated with mental rotation performance in women, that vision was a better predictor of individual differences in mental rotation than sex, and that contrast thresholds correlated with women's interest in male-typed activities. These results suggest that sex differences in spatial cognition and activity interests may have their roots in basic perceptual processes.

SUBMITTER: Qian Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9586946 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Json Xml

Publications

Vision contributes to sex differences in spatial cognition and activity interests.

Qian Yiming Y Berenbaum Sheri A SA Gilmore Rick O RO

Scientific reports 20221021 1

Sex differences in a variety of psychological characteristics are well-documented, with substantial research focused on factors that affect their magnitude and causes. Particular attention has focused on mental rotation, a measure of spatial cognition, and on activity interests. We studied whether sex differences in visual perception-luminance contrast thresholds and motion duration thresholds-contribute to sex differences in mental rotation and interest in male-typed activities. We confirmed se ...[more]

PMID: 36271276

Similar Datasets

Project description:Despite well-established sex differences for cognition, audition, and somatosensation, few studies have investigated whether there are also sex differences in visual perception. We report the results of fifteen perceptual measures (such as visual acuity, visual backward masking, contrast detection threshold or motion detection) for a cohort of over 800 participants. On six of the fifteen tests, males significantly outperformed females. On no test did females significantly outperform males. Given this heterogeneity of the sex effects, it is unlikely that the sex differences are due to any single mechanism. A practical consequence of the results is that it is important to control for sex in vision research, and that findings of sex differences for cognitive measures using visually based tasks should confirm that their results cannot be explained by baseline sex differences in visual perception.

| S-EPMC5951855 | biostudies-literature

Project description:Spatial cognitive performance is impaired in later adulthood but it is unclear whether the metacognitive processes involved in monitoring spatial cognitive performance are also compromised. Inaccurate monitoring could affect whether people choose to engage in tasks that require spatial thinking and also the strategies they use in spatial domains such as navigation. The current experiment examined potential age differences in monitoring spatial cognitive performance in a variety of spatial domains including visual-spatial working memory, spatial orientation, spatial visualization, navigation, and place learning. Younger and older adults completed a 2D mental rotation test, 3D mental rotation test, paper folding test, spatial memory span test, two virtual navigation tasks, and a cognitive mapping test. Participants also made metacognitive judgments of performance (confidence judgments, judgments of learning, or navigation time estimates) on each trial for all spatial tasks. Preference for allocentric or egocentric navigation strategies was also measured. Overall, performance was poorer and confidence in performance was lower for older adults than younger adults. In most spatial domains, the absolute and relative accuracy of metacognitive judgments was equivalent for both age groups. However, age differences in monitoring accuracy (specifically relative accuracy) emerged in spatial tasks involving navigation. Confidence in navigating for a target location also mediated age differences in allocentric navigation strategy use. These findings suggest that with the possible exception of navigation monitoring, spatial cognition may be spared from age-related decline even though spatial cognition itself is impaired in older age.

| S-EPMC6158014 | biostudies-literature

Sex differences in the role of sleep on cognition in older adults.

Project description:Study objectivesThe study aimed to investigate sex differences in the relationship between sleep quality (self-report and objective) and cognitive function across three domains (executive function, verbal memory, and attention) in older adults.MethodsWe analyzed cross-sectional data from 207 participants with normal cognition (NC) or mild cognitive impairment (89 males and 118 females) aged over 60 years. The relationship between sleep quality and cognitive performance was estimated using generalized additive models. Objective sleep was measured with the GT9X Link ActiGraph, and self-reported sleep was measured with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index.ResultsWe found that females exhibited lower executive function with increased objective total sleep time, with a steeper decline in performance after 400 minutes (p = .015). Additionally, longer objective sleep correlated with lower verbal memory linearly (p = .046). In males, a positive linear relationship emerged between objective sleep efficiency and executive function (p = .036). Self-reported sleep was not associated with cognitive performance in females and males with NC. However, in males with cognitive impairment, there was a nonlinear positive relationship between self-reported sleep and executive function (p < .001).ConclusionsOur findings suggest that the association between sleep parameters on cognition varies between older males and females, with executive function being most strongly associated with objective sleep for both sexes top of form. Interventions targeting sleep quality to mitigate cognitive decline in older adults may need to be tailored according to sex, with distinct approaches for males and females.

| S-EPMC11450268 | biostudies-literature

Neuronal mechanisms underlying differences in spatial resolution between darks and lights in human vision.

Project description:Artists and astronomers noticed centuries ago that humans perceive dark features in an image differently from light ones; however, the neuronal mechanisms underlying these dark/light asymmetries remained unknown. Based on computational modeling of neuronal responses, we have previously proposed that such perceptual dark/light asymmetries originate from a luminance/response saturation within the ON retinal pathway. Consistent with this prediction, here we show that stimulus conditions that increase ON luminance/response saturation (e.g., dark backgrounds) or its effect on light stimuli (e.g., optical blur) impair the perceptual discrimination and salience of light targets more than dark targets in human vision. We also show that, in cat visual cortex, the magnitude of the ON luminance/response saturation remains relatively constant under a wide range of luminance conditions that are common indoors, and only shifts away from the lowest luminance contrasts under low mesopic light. Finally, we show that the ON luminance/response saturation affects visual salience mostly when the high spatial frequencies of the image are reduced by poor illumination or optical blur. Because both low luminance and optical blur are risk factors in myopia, our results suggest a possible neuronal mechanism linking myopia progression with the function of the ON visual pathway.

| S-EPMC5713488 | biostudies-literature

Prenatal testosterone does not explain sex differences in spatial ability.

Project description:The most consistent sex differences in cognition are found for spatial ability, in which males, on average, outperform females. Utilizing a twin design, two studies have shown that females with male co-twins perform better than females with female co-twins on a mental rotation task. According to the Twin Testosterone Transfer hypothesis (TTT) this advantage is due to in-uterine transmission of testosterone from males to females. The present study tested the TTT across 14 different spatial ability measures, including mental rotation tasks, in a large sample of 19-21-year-old twins. Males performed significantly better than females on all spatial tasks, with effect sizes ranging from η2 = 0.02 to η2 = 0.16. Females with a male co-twin outperformed females with a female co-twin in two of the tasks. The effect sizes for both differences were negligible (η2 < 0.02). Contrary to the previous studies, our results gave no indication that prenatally transferred testosterone, from a male to a female twin, influences sex differences in spatial ability.

| S-EPMC6135826 | biostudies-literature

Estrogen Signaling Contributes to Sex Differences in Macrophage Polarization during Asthma.

Project description:Allergic asthma is a chronic Th2 inflammation in the lungs that constricts the airways and presents as coughing and wheezing. Asthma mostly affects boys in childhood and women in adulthood, suggesting that shifts in sex hormones alter the course of the disease. Alveolar macrophages have emerged as major mediators of allergic lung inflammation in animal models as well as humans. Whether sex differences exist in macrophage polarization and the molecular mechanism(s) that drive differential responses are not well understood. We found that IL-4-stimulated bone marrow-derived and alveolar macrophages from female mice exhibited greater expression of M2 genes in vitro and after allergen challenge in vivo. Alveolar macrophages from female mice exhibited greater expression of the IL-4Rα and estrogen receptor (ER) α compared with macrophages from male mice following allergen challenge. An ERα-specific agonist enhanced IL-4-induced M2 gene expression in macrophages from both sexes, but more so in macrophages from female mice. Furthermore, IL-4-stimulated macrophages from female mice exhibited more transcriptionally active histone modifications at M2 gene promoters than did macrophages from male mice. We found that supplementation of estrogen into ovariectomized female mice enhanced M2 polarization in vivo upon challenge with allergen and that macrophage-specific deletion of ERα impaired this M2 polarization. The effects of estrogen are long-lasting; bone marrow-derived macrophages from ovariectomized mice implanted with estrogen exhibited enhanced IL-4-induced M2 gene expression compared with macrophages from placebo-implanted littermates. Taken together, our findings suggest that estrogen enhances IL-4-induced M2 gene expression and thereby contributes to sex differences observed in asthma.

| S-EPMC5576568 | biostudies-literature

Sex Differences in Brain and Cognition in <i>de novo</i> Parkinson's Disease.

Project description:Background and Objective: Brain atrophy and cognitive impairment in neurodegenerative diseases are influenced by sex. We aimed to investigate sex differences in brain atrophy and cognition in de novo Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. Methods: Clinical, neuropsychological and T1-weighted MRI data from 205 PD patients (127 males: 78 females) and 69 healthy controls (40 males: 29 females) were obtained from the PPMI dataset. Results: PD males had a greater motor and rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder symptomatology than PD females. They also showed cortical thinning in postcentral and precentral regions, greater global cortical and subcortical atrophy and smaller volumes in thalamus, caudate, putamen, pallidum, hippocampus, and brainstem, compared with PD females. Healthy controls only showed reduced hippocampal volume in males compared to females. PD males performed worse than PD females in global cognition, immediate verbal recall, and mental processing speed. In both groups males performed worse than females in semantic verbal fluency and delayed verbal recall; as well as females performed worse than males in visuospatial function. Conclusions: Sex effect in brain and cognition is already evident in de novo PD not explained by age per se, being a relevant factor to consider in clinical and translational research in PD.

| S-EPMC8770804 | biostudies-literature

Sex differences between serum total bilirubin levels and cognition in patients with schizophrenia.

Project description:BackgroundCognitive deficits are common in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ). Abnormal serum total bilirubin (TBIL) levels have been involved in cognitive deficits associated with neuropsychiatric diseases such as mild cognitive impairment and subcortical ischemic vascular disease. However, this relationship has not yet been fully investigated in patients with SCZ. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the association between the serum TBIL concentration and cognitive deficits in SCZ patients and to determine whether a sex difference exists in the association.MethodsA total of 455 participants were eligible and included in this cross-sectional study. Cognition was evaluated using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. Serum TBIL concentration was measured with an automatic biochemistry analyzer according to the routine protocol in the hospital medical laboratory.ResultsSerum TBIL levels were lower in the cognition impairment group than in the cognition normal group in male patients. In contrast, serum TBIL levels tended to be increased in the cognition impairment group in female patients, although the difference was not significant. Further stepwise multiple regression analysis stratified by sex showed that serum TBIL was independently and positively associated with cognitive function in male patients but not in female patients. Moreover, the association between serum TBIL level and cognitive function was also identified by the propensity score matching (PSM) method in male patients, but not in female patients.ConclusionThese findings suggest that lower serum TBIL levels may be associated with cognitive impairment in male SCZ patients.

| S-EPMC8353745 | biostudies-literature

Sex differences in the circadian regulation of sleep and waking cognition in humans.

Project description:The sleep-wake cycle and circadian rhythmicity both contribute to brain function, but whether this contribution differs between men and women and how it varies across cognitive domains and subjective dimensions has not been established. We examined the circadian and sleep-wake-dependent regulation of cognition in 16 men and 18 women in a forced desynchrony protocol and quantified the separate contributions of circadian phase, prior sleep, and elapsed time awake on cognition and sleep. The largest circadian effects were observed for reported sleepiness, mood, and reported effort; the effects on working memory and temporal processing were smaller. Although these effects were seen in both men and women, there were quantitative differences. The amplitude of the circadian modulation was larger in women in 11 of 39 performance measures so that their performance was more impaired in the early morning hours. Principal components analysis of the performance measures yielded three factors, accuracy, effort, and speed, which reflect core performance characteristics in a range of cognitive tasks and therefore are likely to be important for everyday performance. The largest circadian modulation was observed for effort, whereas accuracy exhibited the largest sex difference in circadian modulation. The sex differences in the circadian modulation of cognition could not be explained by sex differences in the circadian amplitude of plasma melatonin and electroencephalographic slow-wave activity. These data establish the impact of circadian rhythmicity and sex on waking cognition and have implications for understanding the regulation of brain function, cognition, and affect in shift-work, jetlag, and aging.

| S-EPMC4868418 | biostudies-literature

Sex differences in associations between spatial ability and corpus callosum morphology.

Project description:Rotating mental representations of objects is accompanied by widespread bilateral brain activations. Thus, interhemispheric communication channels may play a relevant part when engaging in mental rotation tasks. Indeed, links between mental rotation and dimensions of the corpus callosum-the brain's main commissure system-have been reported. However, existing findings are sparse and inconsistent across studies. Here we set out to further characterize the nature of any such links, including their exact location across the corpus callosum. For this purpose, we applied an advanced image analysis approach assessing callosal thickness at 100 equidistant points in a sample of 38 healthy adults (19 men, 19 women), aged between 22 and 45 years. We detected a sex interaction, with significant structure-performance relationships in women, but not in men. Specifically, better mental rotation performance was linked to a thicker female corpus callosum within regions of the callosal splenium, posterior midbody, and anterior third. These findings may suggest sex differences in problem solving strategies where in women, more than in men, stronger interhemispheric connectivity-especially between occipitoparietal, frontal, and prefrontal regions-is associated with improved task performance. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

| S-EPMC5999566 | biostudies-literature

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

OmicsDI is an Elixir interoperability service. Learn more ›

Tweets

OmicsDI Databases

PRIDE
PeptideAtlas
MassIVE
JPOST Repository
Physiome Model Repository

EGA
EVA
ENA
LINCS
PAXDB
Cell Collective

MetaboLights
Metabolomics Workbench
MetabolomeExpress
GNPS
BioModels
FAIRDOMHub

ArrayExpress
dbGaP
ExpressionAtlas
GEO
NODE

Information

Databases
Help
API
Contact us
Code on GitHub
Terms of use
Submit Data