The Male Advantage: Why women can't resist the Outlier Male

Product Information

Cabeza, R., Grady, C. L., Nyberg, L., McIntosh, A. R., Tulving, E., Kapur, S., & Craik, F. I. (1997). Age-related differences in neural activity during memory encoding and retrieval: A positron emission tomography study. The Journal of Neuroscience, 17, 391–400. Miller, D. I. & Halpern, D. F. The new science of cognitive sex differences. Trends Cogn. Sci. 18, 37–45 (2014). In broad terms, likely the most obvious implication of the present results is that the large amount of research that simply ignores sex as a relevant variable in visual-spatial working memory research overlooks a possible source of variation. At the very least, researchers should state the number of females and males they tested and routinely examine sex as a factor in preliminary analyses. Full report of sample characteristics is always required even when no sex differences have been documented in the past (APA Publications and Communications Board Working Group on Journal Article Reporting Standards, 2008). The present results suggest that full report of sample composition for studies of visual-spatial working memory is even more imperative than mere adherence to reporting standards. Visual-spatial working memory and spatial abilities Miedzian, M. (2002). Boys will be boys: Breaking the link between masculinity and violence. New York, NY: Lantern Books. A number of steps were taken to warrant the validity of coding. As a starting point, we prepared a coding sheet that included an entry for all coded variables. A subset of 17 studies (accounting for 51 effect sizes) was coded independently by the first and second authors, two experienced meta-analysts. This coding involved 19 variables, although they were not all used in the moderator analysis. Specifically, the coded variables were: sample ID (required for multilevel analysis), authors, year of publication, publication status (published or not), mean age of sample, national origin, number of males, number of females, task, instructions, stimuli, target feature, response medium, delay, interference task, testing medium, dependent variable, type of memory, and effect size. Therefore, a total of 969 entries (19 variables x 51 effect sizes) produced only 8 disagreements, resulting in an inter-rater reliability of 99.2 % (961 agreements/969 total entries). This high inter-rater reliability suggests that coding was quite straightforward. Accordingly, the remaining material was coded by the second author. Measure of effect size

Sure, there are brilliant women spearheading research and building companies. But few men ever go, “Damn! She built a million-dollar company. That’s so hot!” This Comes Down to Our Evolutionary Wiring Hartley, D. E., Elsabagh, S., & File, S. E. (2004). Binge drinking and sex: Effects on mood and cognitive function in healthy young volunteers. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 78(3), 611–619. doi: 10.1016/j.pbb.2004.04.027

Wikipedia citation

Cowan, N. (2008). What are the differences between long-term, short-term, and working memory? Progress in Brain Research, 169, 323–338. doi: 10.1016/S0079-6123(07)00020-9 Crawford, J. D., Medendorp, W. P. & Marotta, J. J. Spatial transformations for eye-hand coordination. J. Neurophysiol. 92, 10–19 (2004). In fact, the most likely argument against including sex or gender as search terms is that their inclusion might promote a publication bias, whereby only studies that obtain the expected results (a male advantage?) would get published. It is possible that some authors only mentioned sex differences in their results, because they found them to be significant in hope of having their paper published. This would potentially exacerbate a publication bias. However, it is equally plausible to argue that other authors found significant sex differences in preliminary analyses and failed to report them, because they viewed them as noise. It is simply not possible to determine whether an overreporting or an underreporting bias might exist. However, it is clear that our results showed no support for a publication bias either when comparing the magnitude of sex differences in published and unpublished studies or when considering converging evidence from three other statistical approaches to the examination of publication bias. Therefore, in the context of the existing statistical and methodological tools, it seems reasonable to assume that publication bias is not an issue. However, a more definite answer could be provided by recent initiatives for better scientific practices, including mandatory usage of open data repositories for all published studies. Open data archives would help all researchers conducting meta-analyses, because it would make all relevant data readily available. In the meantime, despite our use of limiting search terms, we are confident that our results are a valid reflection of the state of affairs on sex differences in visual-spatial working memory.

The purpose of the present study was to conduct a meta-analysis of sex differences in visual-spatial working memory to quantify the overall findings as well as to examine potential moderators of these sex differences. The importance of examining sex differences in visual-spatial working memory arose from the broad usage of such tasks in clinical and research settings. In addition, quantifying these sex differences has implications for the hypothesis that they might account for sex differences in spatial abilities. Essentially, even though many have made the claim that sex differences in spatial abilities, especially mental rotation, could stem from sex differences in visual-spatial working memory (Kaufman, 2007; Loring-Meier & Halpern, 1999; Wang & Carr, 2014), a comprehensive meta-analysis examining visual-spatial working memory in this context was missing until now.The multilevel analysis was computed by examining data organized in two levels: effect sizes nested within samples. This structure resulted in 182 effect sizes (Level 1) nested within 98 samples (Level 2). All analyses were conducted with the HLM 7 software (Raudenbush, Bryk, Cheong, Congdon, & du Toit, 2011) with the significance level set at 0.05. Only moderators that produced significant results are elaborated upon. Task subgroups analyses

Considering our concerns that the inclusion of sex or gender in the search terms might result in a sample biased toward studies showing sex differences, we made additional efforts to obtain unpublished research. Specifically, theses and dissertations were considered as a possible source of unpublished material. Furthermore, a posting requesting unpublished research was sent to the mailing list of the Spatial Learning Network (SILC) and of the Canadian Society for Brain, Behavior, and Cognitive Science (CSBBCS). As a result of these efforts, 18 effect sizes from unpublished research (16 theses, 2 unpublished papers) were coded into the data sample (from a total of 182 effect sizes). Therefore, the final data set included a small number of effect sizes drawn from unpublished work. Selection criteria Griffith, J. L., Voloschin, P., Gibb, G. D. & Bailey, J. R. Differences in eye-hand motor coordination of video-game users and non-users. Percept. Mot. Skills 57, 155–158 (1983). Findings of the subgroup analysis showed that the fixed-effects model could not be rejected in the memory for location and memory for token tasks. This testifies to the consistency of the female advantage in location tasks and male advantage for token tasks. The results are particularly interesting in memory for location, because they seem not to fit with the rest of the data, as discussed earlier. It is legitimate to state that such tasks produce significant and consistent sex differences in favor of females. As an additional source of information, the most recently developed approach to an examination of the publication bias also was considered. Specifically, Ioannidis and Trikalinos ( 2007) proposed a test based on the rationale that a publication bias in a set of effect sizes should produce an excess of observed positive findings when compared to what is expected from the power of individual studies. As a conservative measure, Ioannidis and Trikalinos recommended use of 0.10 as the significance level for such test to reduce the risk of Type II errors.Cherrier, M. M., Asthana, S., Plymate, S., Baker, L., Matsumoto, A. M., Peskind, E., & LaTendresse, S. (2001). Testosterone supplementation improves spatial and verbal memory in healthy older men. Neurology, 57, 80–88. doi: 10.1212/WNL.57.1.80 Mathew, J., Sarlegna, F. R., Bernier, P.-M. & Danion, F. R. Handedness matters for motor control but not for prediction. eNeuro. https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0136-19.2019 (2019). Orsini, A., Chiacchio, L., Cinque, M., Cocchiaro, C., Schiappa, O., & Grossi, D. (1986). Effects of age, education and sex on two tests of immediate memory: A study of normal subjects from 20 to 99 years of age. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 63(2), 727–732. doi: 10.2466/pms.1986.63.2.727

One issue that arises when attempting to define visual-spatial working memory is that there are as many definitions of this concept as there are theories used to explain its functioning. Wang and Carr ( 2014) present an excellent summary of the various theoretical perspectives and their implied definitions for visual-spatial working memory. However, our goal in defining visual-spatial working memory was to stay away from any specific theory while remaining broad in the inclusiveness of our definition. Therefore, throughout the present article, we use the term visual-spatial working memory in a theory-neutral manner to refer to the processes involved in the storage of spatial or visual information over a limited period of time. The studies that we sampled in our meta-analysis reflect this general definition. Identifying potential moderators Johnson, J. (2013). Designing with the mind in mind: Simple guide to understanding user interface design guidelines (2nd ed.). New York: Elsevier. The identification of potential moderators is a crucial step in a meta-analysis (Borenstein, Hedges, Higgins, & Rothstein, 2009), although it also is important to limit the number of moderators considered to reduce the risk of Type 1 error in hypothesis testing (Lipsey & Wilson, 2001). This is why Lipsey and Wilson ( 2001) suggested that the identification of moderators should be based on what past researchers have considered as important in their empirical studies. Accordingly, the set of potential moderators that we have identified in what follows stems from past literature. Task Duff, S. J., & Hampson, E. (2000). A beneficial effect of estrogen on working memory in postmenopausal women taking hormone replacement therapy. Hormones and Behavior, 38, 262–276. doi: 10.1006/hbeh.2000.1625Coluccia, E., & Martello, A. (2004). Il ruolo della memoria di lavoro visuo-spaziale nell'orientamento geografico: Uno studio correlazione. (The role of visuospatial working memory in geographical orientation: A correlation study). Giornale Italiano Di Psicologia, 31(3), 523–552. A number of selection criteria allowed us to determine whether a study could be included in the meta-analysis. Accordingly, as a first step, the second author carefully read the abstract for each study to determine if the inclusion criteria were met. When fit with the inclusion criteria remained unclear after consultation of the abstract, the actual paper was consulted by the three authors. Gursoy, R. Sex differences in relations of muscle power, lung function, and reaction time in athletes. Percept. Mot. Skills 110, 714–720 (2010). Almela, M., van der Meij, L., Hidalgo, V., Villada, C., & Salvador, A. (2012). The cortisol awakening response and memory performance in older men and women. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 37(12), 1929–1940. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2012.04.009 Age of participants is an obvious potential moderator in any meta-analyses of sex differences in cognitive performance as cognitive abilities are well known to change across the life span (Techentin, Voyer, & Voyer, 2014). Visual-spatial working memory is no exception considering that De Luca et al. ( 2003) showed clear changes in visual-spatial working memory capacity across the life span. Accordingly, age of participants was considered as a potential moderator in the present analysis. Medium of presentation