Gender Differences in Large-Scale and Small-Scale Spatial Ability: A Systematic Review Based on Behavioral and...

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Human Behavior
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Spatial ability is crucial for human survival and development.
• Observed gender differences in spatial ability necessitate investigation into scale-specific influences.
• Current research addresses behavioral and neural underpinnings of gender differences in spatial ability.

Approach:

• Meta-analysis to compare gender differences in large- and small-scale spatial ability behaviorally.
• Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) to map neural activity differences between genders across spatial scales.
• Investigated both behavioral performance and brain activity patterns.

Key Points:

• Males demonstrated superior performance over females in both large- and small-scale spatial tasks.
• The effect size of gender difference was significantly larger for large-scale spatial ability compared to small-scale.
• Neural activity revealed both similarities and differences between genders, with specific regions like the lentiform nucleus and parahippocampal gyrus showing differential activation.

Conclusions:

• Females' lower performance in large-scale spatial ability may relate to emotional susceptibility and reduced parahippocampal gyrus efficiency.
• Females' challenges in small-scale spatial ability might stem from reliance on egocentric strategies and less efficient sub-gyral function.
• These scale-dependent cognitive and neural factors contribute to male-biased gender differences in spatial ability.