Gender differences of exploratory eye movements: a life span study

Exploratory eye movements of normal subjects (39 male and 39 female) were recorded using an eye-mark recorder. Four parameters mean gazing time, total number of gazing points, mean scanning length, and total scanning length) were analyzed. Subjects were divided into three life spans as prepuberty (boys and girls), adult, and postpuberty. The mean gazing time of adult women was significantly longer than that of age-matched adult men, but not between men and women in prepuberty or postpuberty (postmenopausal older women and age-matched older men). The total number of gazing points of women was significantly smaller than that of men, but not significantly different between men and women in both prepuberty and postpuberty. Both the mean scanning length and total scanning length of adult women were shorter than those of age matched adult men, but no significant differences were found between men and women in both prepuberty and postpuberty. Furthermore, the mean gazing time of adult women was longer than that of men in prepuberty and postpuberty. The total scanning length of adult men was longer than that of women in both prepuberty and postpuberty. These findings suggest that gender differences of exploratory eye movements are observed only during the adult phase, which indicates that visual information processing may be regulated by gonadal hormones in humans.