Sex differences in parietal lobe morphology: Relationship to mental rotation performance

Brain and Cognition

Volumn 69, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 451-459

  Koscik, Tim ^a   O'Leary, Dan ^a   Moser, David J ^a   Andreasen, Nancy C ^a   Nopoulos, Peg ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF IOWA   (United States)

Author keywords

Mental rotation; Parietal lobe; Sex differences; Spatial ability

Indexed keywords

ADULT; ARTICLE; BRAIN SIZE; CONTROLLED STUDY; FEMALE; GRAY MATTER; HUMAN; HUMAN EXPERIMENT; MALE; MENTAL PERFORMANCE; NORMAL HUMAN; PARIETAL LOBE; PRIORITY JOURNAL; ROTATION; SEX DIFFERENCE; WHITE MATTER;

ADULT; ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE; COGNITION; FEMALE; HUMANS; IMAGINATION; MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING; MALE; NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS; ORGAN SIZE; PARIETAL LOBE; ROTATION; SEX CHARACTERISTICS; SPACE PERCEPTION; TASK PERFORMANCE AND ANALYSIS;

EID: 61349199516     PISSN: 02782626     EISSN: 10902147     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2008.09.004     Document Type: Article

References (66)

1. Alivisatos B., and Petrides M. Functional activation of the human brain during mental rotation. Neuropsychologia 35 2 (1997) 111-118
2. Amunts K., Armstrong E., Malikovic A., Hömke L., Mohlberg H., Schleicher A., et al. Gender-specific left-right asymmetries in human visual cortex. The Journal of Neuroscience 27 (2007) 1356-1364
3. Andreasen N.C., Flaum M., and Arndt S. The Comprehensive Assessment of Symptoms and History (CASH): An instrument for assessing psychopathology and diagnosis. Archives of General Psychiatry 49 (1992) 615-623
4. Andreasen N.C., Rajarethinam R., Cizadlo T., Arndt S., Swayze II V.W., Flashman L.A., et al. Automatic atlas-based volume estimation of human brain regions from MR images. Journal of Computer Assisted Tomography 20 1 (1996) 98-106
5. Barta P., and Dazzan P. Hemispheric surface area: Sex, laterality and age effects. Cerebral Cortex 13 (2003) 364-370
6. Battaglia-Mayer A., Archambault P.S., and Caminiti R. The cortical network for eye-hand coordination and its relevance to understanding motor disorders of parietal patients. Neuropsychologia 44 (2006) 2607-2620
7. Benton A.L. Problems of test construction in the field of aphasia. Cortex 3 (1967) 32-58
8. Buss D.M., and Shackelford T.K. Human aggression in evolutionary psychological perspective. Clinical Psychology Review 17 (1997) 605-619
9. Collins D.W., and Kimura D. A large sex difference on a two-dimensional mental rotation task. Behavioral Neuroscience 111 4 (1997) 845-849
10. Collins D.L., Neelin P., Peters T.M., and Evans A.C. Automatic 3D intersubject registration of MR volumetric data in standardized Talairach space. Journal of Computer Assisted Tomography 18 (1994) 192-205
11. Cook N.D., Fruh H., Mehr A., Regard M., and Landis T. Hemispheric cooperation in visuospatial rotations: Evidence for manipulative role for the left hemisphere and a reference role for the right hemisphere. Brain and Cognition 25 (1994) 240-249
12. Corballis M.C. Mental rotation and the right hemisphere. Brain and Language 57 (1997) 100-121
13. Culham J.C., and Kanwisher N.G. Neuroimaging of cognitive functions in human parietal cortex. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 11 (2001) 157-163
14. Delgado A.R., and Prieto G. Sex differences in visuospatial ability: Do performance factors play such an important role?. Memory & Cognition 24 4 (1996) 504-510
15. Ditunno P.L., and Mann V.A. Right hemisphere specialization for mental rotation in normals and brain damaged subjects. Cortex 26 2 (1990) 177-188
16. Eals M., and Silverman I. The hunter-gatherer theory of spatial sex differences: Proximate factors mediating the female advantage of recall of object arrays. Ethology and Sociobiology 15 (1994) 95-105
17. Ecuyer-Dab I., and Robert M. Have sex differences in spatial ability evolved from male competition for mating and female concern for survival?. Cognition 91 (2004) 221-257
18. Gaulin S.J.C. Evolution of sex differences in spatial ability. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 35 (1992) 125-151
19. Goldstein J.M., Eidman L.J., Horton N.J., Makris N., Kennedy D.N., Caviness Jr. V.S., et al. Normal sexual dimorphism in adult human brain assessed by in vivo magnetic resonance imaging. Cerebral Cortex 11 (2001) 490-497
20. Goldstein D., Haldane D., and Mitchell C. Sex differences in visual spatial ability: The role of performance factors. Memory Cognition 18 (1990) 546-550
21. Gur R.C., Turetsky B.I., Matsui M., Yan M., Bilker W., and Hughett P. Sex differences in brain gray and white matter in healthy young adults: Correlations with cognitive performance. Journal of Neuroscience 19 10 (1999) 4065-4072
22. Im K., Lee J.M., Lee J., Shin Y.W., Kim I.Y., Kwon J.S., et al. Gender difference analysis of cortical thickness in healthy young adults with surface-based methods. Neuroimage 31 (2006) 31-38
23. Jagaroo V. Mental rotation and the parietal question in functional neuroimaging: A discussion of two views. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology 16 5 (2004) 717-728
24. Johnson B.W., McKenzie K.J., and Hamm J.P. Cerebral asymmetry for mental rotation: Effects of response hand, handedness and gender. Neuroreport 13 15 (2002) 1929-1932
25. Jones C.M., Braithwaite V.A., and Healy S.D. The evolution of sex differences in spatial ability. Behavioral Neuroscience 117 3 (2003) 403-411
26. Jordan K., Wüstenberg T., Heinze H.J., Peters M., and Jäncke L. Women and men exhibit different cortical activation patterns during mental rotation tasks. Neuropsychologia 40 (2002) 2397-2408
27. Kass S.J., Ahlers R.H., and Dugger M. Eliminating gender differences through practice in an applied visual spatial task. Human Performance 11 4 (1998) 337-349
28. Kavaliers M., Ossenkorp K.P., Galea L.A.M., and Kolb B. Sex differences in spatial learning and prefrontal and parietal cortical dendritic morphology in the meadow vole. Brain Research 810 (1998) 41-47
29. Klingberg T. Development of a superior frontal-intraparietal network for visuo-spatial working memory. Neuropsychologia 44 (2006) 2171-2177
30. Linn M.C., and Petersen A.C. Emergence and characterization of sex differences in spatial ability: A meta-analysis. Child Development 56 6 (1985) 1479-1498
31. Luders E., Narr K.L., Thompson P.M., Rex D.E., Woods R.P., DeLuca H., et al. Gender differences on cortical thickness and the influence of scaling. Human Brain Mapping 27 (2006) 314-324
32. Luders E., Narr K.L., Thompson P.M., Woods R.P., Rex D.E., Jancke L., et al. Mapping cortical gray matter in the young adult brain: Effects of gender. Neuroimage 26 (2005) 493-501
33. Magnotta V.A., Andreasen N.C., Schultz S.K., Harris G., Cizadlo T., and Heckel D. Quantitative in vivo measurement of gyrification in the human brain: Changes associated with aging. Cerebral Cortex 9 (1999) 151-160
34. Magnotta V., Harris G., Andreasen N.C., O'Leary D.S., Yuh W.T., and Heckel D. Structural MR image processing using the BRAINS2 toolbox. Computerized Medical Imaging and Graphics 26 4 (2002) 64-251
35. Marshall J. On the relation between the weight of the brain and its parts, and the stature and mass of the body in man. Journal of Anatomy and Physiology 26 (1892) 445-500
36. Mehta Z., Newcombe F., and Damasio H. A left hemisphere contribution to visuospatial processing. Cortex 23 (1987) 447-461
37. Naghavi H.R., and Nyberg L. Common fronto-parietal activity in attention, memory, and consciousness: Shared demands on integration?. Consciousness and Cognition 14 (2005) 390-425
38. Nopoulos P., Flaum M., O'Leary D., and Andreasen N.C. Sexual dimorphism in the human brain: Evaluation of tissue volume, tissue composition and surface anatomy using magnetic resonance imaging. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging 98 (2000) 1-13
39. Pakkenberg B., and Gundersen H.J.G. Neocortical number in humans: Effects of sex and age. The Journal of Comparative Neurology 384 (1997) 312-320
40. Panter-Brick C. Sexual division of labor: Energetic and evolutionary scenarios. American Journal of Human Biology 14 (2002) 627-640
41. Peters M. Sex differences and the factor of time in solving Vandenberg and Kuse mental rotation problems. Brain and Cognition 57 (2005) 176-184
42. Pezaris E., and Casey M.B. Girls who use "masculine problem-solving strategies on a spatial task: Predisposed genetic and environmental factors. Brain and Cognition 17 1 (1991) 1-22
43. Raz N., Gunning-Dixon F., Head D., Rodrigue K.M., Williamson A., and Acker J.D. Aging, sexual dimorphism, and hemispheric asymmetry of the cerebral cortex: Replicability of regional differences in volume. Neurobiology of Aging 25 (2004) 377-396
44. Rescher B., and Rappelsberger P. Gender dependent EEG-changes during a mental rotation task. International Journal of Psychophysiology 33 (1999) 209-222
45. Roberts N.E., and Bell M.A. Sex differences on a mental rotation task: Variations in electroencephalogram hemispheric activation between children and college students. Developmental Neuropsychology 17 2 (2000) 199-223
46. Rockel A.J., Hiorns R.W., and Powell T.P.S. Numbers of neurons through the full depth of the neocortex. Journal of Anatomy 118 (1974) 371
47. Rockel A.J., Hiorns R.W., and Powell T.P.S. The basic uniformity in structure of the neocortex. Brain 103 (1980) 221-244
48. Salat D.H., Kaye J.A., and Janowsky J.S. Prefrontal gray and white matter volumes in healthy aging and Alzheimer disease. Archives of Neurology 56 (1999) 338-344
49. Sans de Acedo Lizarraga M.L., and García Ganuza J.M. Improvement of mental rotation in girls and boys. Sex Roles 49 5/6 (2003) 277-286
50. Save E., and Poucet B. Hippocampal-parietal cortical interactions in spatial cognition. Hippocampus 10 (2000) 491-499
51. Schlaepfer T.E., Harris G.J., Tien A.Y., Peng L., Lee S., and Pearlson G.D. Structural differences in the cerebral cortex of healthy female and male subjects: A magnetic resonance imaging study. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging 61 (1995) 129-135
52. Seurnick R., Vingerhoets G., de Lange F.P., and Achten E. Does egocentric mental rotation elicit sex differences?. Neuroimage 23 (2004) 1440-1449
53. Shepard, R. N., Metzler, J. (1971). Mental rotation of three-dimensional objects. Science, 171, 701-703.
54. Sherry D.F., and Hampson E. Evolution and hormonal control of sexually-dimorphic spatial abilities in humans. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 1 2 (1997) 50-56
55. Silverman I., Choi J., and Peters M. The hunter-gatherer theory of sex differences in spatial abilities: Data from 40 countries. Archives of Sexual Behavior 36 (2007) 261-268
56. Silverman I., and Eals M. Sex differences in spatial abilities: Evolutionary theory and data. In: Barkow J., Cosmides L., and Tooby J. (Eds). The adapted mind: Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture (1992), Oxford University Press, New York 487-503
57. Sowell E.R., Peterson B.S., Kan E., Woods R.P., Yoshii J., Bansal R., et al. Sex differences in cortical thickness mapped in 176 healthy individuals between 7 and 87 years of age. Cerebral Cortex 17 (2006) 1550-1560
58. Tagaris G.A., Kim S.G., Strupp J.P., Andersen P., Ugurbil K., and Georgopoulos A.P. Quantitative relations between parietal activation and performance in mental rotation. Neuroreport 7 (1996) 773-776
59. Talairach J., and Tournoux P. Co-planar stereotaxic atlas of the human brain: 3-Dimensional proportional system: An approach to cerebral imaging (1988), Thieme, New York
60. Thomsen T., Hugdahl K., Ersland L., Barndon R., Lundevold A., Smievoll A.I., et al. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study of sex differences in a mental rotation task. Medical Science Monitor 6 6 (2000) 1186-1196
61. Vandenburg S.G., and Kuse A.R. Mental rotations, a group test of three-dimensional spatial visualizations. Perceptual and Motor Skills 47 (1978) 599-604
62. Voyer D. Scoring procedure, performance factors, and magnitude of sex differences in spatial performance. American Journal of Psychology 110 2 (1997) 259-277
63. Voyer D., Voyer S., and Bryden M.P. Magnitude of sex differences in spatial abilities: A meta-analysis and consideration of crucial variables. Psychological Bulletin 117 2 (1995) 250-270
64. Wagner A.D., Shannon B.J., Kahn I., and Buckner R.L. Parietal lobe contributions to episodic memory retrieval. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 9 9 (2005) 445-453
65. Witelson S.F., Glezer I.I., and Kigar D.L. Women have greater density of neurons in posterior temporal cortex. The Journal of Neuroscience 15 5 (1995) 3418-3428
66. Wynn T.G., Tierson F.D., and Palmer C.T. Evolution of sex differences in spatial cognition. Yearbook of physical anthropology 39 (1996) 11-42