Sex differences on Bartel's task: an investigation into perception of real and depicted distances

A new method derived from Bartel's (1958) studies was used to investigate sex differences in spatial perception. Bartel employed two related tasks; one of these tasks called for responses to a pictorial stimulus representing spatial arrangement in perspective and the other for responses to an analogous task presented in three dimensions. Modified forms of both these tasks were used. Consistent differences between men and women were found, the men showing greater distance constancy in relation both to real and to depicted distances. In addition a decline of such constancy with age was observed. The pictorial task was also used to test two groups of students of architecture: one relatively inexperienced and the other more experienced with the discipline, on the assumption that experience of spatial judgments might influence performance on this task. It was found that whilst familiarity did not affect responses there was a consistent difference between responses of men and women.