Sex differences in the weighting of metric and categorical information in spatial location memory

Psychological Research

Volumn 79, Issue 1, 2015, Pages 1-18

  Holden, Mark P ^a   Duff Canning, Sarah J ^a,b   Hampson, Elizabeth ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO   (Canada)

^b TORONTO WESTERN HOSPITAL   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ASSOCIATION; DEPTH PERCEPTION; FEMALE; HUMAN; MALE; PHYSIOLOGY; RECALL; SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT; SPATIAL MEMORY;

CUES; FEMALE; HUMANS; MALE; MENTAL RECALL; SEX CHARACTERISTICS; SPACE PERCEPTION; SPATIAL MEMORY;

EID: 84892182241     PISSN: 03400727     EISSN: 14302772     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s00426-013-0539-z     Document Type: Article

References (103)

1. Abramoff, M. D., Magelhaes, P. J., & Ram, S. J. (2004). Image processing with ImageJ. Biophotonics International,11, 36–42.
2. Alexander, G. M., Packard, M. G., & Peterson, B. S. (2002). Sex and spatial position effects on object location memory following incidental learning of object identities. Neuropsychologia,40, 1516–1522.
3. Allen, G. L., & Haun, D. B. M. (2004). Proximity and precision in spatial memory. In G. L. Allen (Ed.), Human spatial memory: Remembering where (pp. 41–63). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
4. Baciu, M., Koenig, O., Vernier, M. P., Bedoin, N., Rubin, C., & Segebarth, C. (1999). Categorical and coordinate spatial relations: fMRI evidence for hemispheric specialization. NeuroReport,10, 1373–1378.
5. Batschelet, E. (1981). Circular statistics in biology. New York: Academic Press.
6. Blair, J. R., & Spreen, O. (1989). Predicting premorbid IQ: A revision of the National Adult Reading Test. The Clinical Neuropsychologist,3, 129–136.
7. Cheng, K., Shettleworth, S. J., Huttenlocher, J., & Rieser, J. J. (2007). Bayesian integration of spatial information. Psychological Bulletin,133, 625–637.
8. Corneille, O., Huart, J., Becquart, E., & Bredart, S. (2004). When memory shifts toward more typical category exemplars: Accentuation effects in the recollection of ethnically ambiguous faces. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,86, 236–250.
9. Crawford, L. E., Huttenlocher, J., & Engebretson, P. H. (2000). Category effects on estimates of stimuli: Perception or reconstruction? Psychological Science,11, 280–284.
10. Dab, I. E., & Robert, M. (2004). Have sex differences in spatial ability evolved from male competition for mating and female concern for survival? Cognition,91, 221–257.
11. DeLisi, R., Parameswaran, G., & McGillicuddy-DeLisi, A. V. (1989). Age and sex differences in representation of horizontality among children in India. Perceptual and Motor Skills,68, 739–746.
12. Deneve, S., & Pouget, A. (2004). Bayesian multisensory integration and cross-modal spatial links. Journal of Physiology-Paris,98, 249–258.
13. Dent, K. (2009). Coding categorical and coordinate spatial relations in visual-spatial short-term memory. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,62, 2372–2387.
14. Duffy, S., Huttenlocher, J., & Crawford, L. E. (2006). Children sue categories to maximize accuracy in estimation. Developmental Science,9, 597–603.
15. Eals, M., & Silverman, I. (1994). The hunter-gatherer theory of spatial sex differences: Proximate factors mediating the female advantage in recall of object arrays. Ethology and Sociobiology,15, 95–105.
16. Ecuyer-Dab, I., & Robert, M. (2007). The female advantage in object location memory according to the foraging hypothesis: A critical analysis. Human Nature,18, 365–385.
17. Ekstrom, R., French, J., Harman, H., & Dermen, D. (1976). Kit of factor-referenced cognitive tests. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Services.
18. Ernst, M. O., & Bülthoff, H. H. (2004). Merging the senses into a robust percept. Trends in Cognitive Sciences,8, 162–169.
19. Fitting, S., Wedell, D. H., & Allen, G. L. (2007). Memory for spatial location: Cue effects as a function of field rotation. Memory and Cognition,35, 1641–1658.
20. Fitting, S., Wedell, D. H., & Allen, G. L. (2008). Cue usage in memory for location when orientation is fixed. Memory and Cognition,36, 1196–1216.
21. Friedman, A., Brown, N., & McGaffey, A. (2002). A basis for bias in geographical judgments. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review,9, 151–159.
22. Halpern, D. F. (2000). Sex differences in cognitive abilities (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
23. Harshman, R. A., Hampson, E., & Berenbaum, S. A. (1983). Individual differences in cognitive abilities and brain organization, Part I: Sex and handedness differences in ability. Canadian Journal of Psychology,37, 144–192.
24. Hellige, J. B., & Michimata, C. (1989). Categorization versus distance: Hemispheric differences for processing spatial information. Memory and Cognition,17, 770–776.
25. Holden, M. P., Curby, K. M., Newcombe, N. S., & Shipley, T. F. (2010). A category adjustment approach to memory for spatial location in natural scenes. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition,36, 590–604.
26. Holden, M. P., Newcombe, N. S., & Shipley, T. F. (2013). Location memory in the real world: Category adjustment effects in 3-dimensional space. Cognition,128(1), 45–55.
27. Honda, A., & Nihei, Y. (2009). Sex differences in object location memory: The female advantage of immediate detection of changes. Learning and Individual Differences,19, 234–237.
28. Huart, J., Corneille, O., & Becquart, E. (2005). Face-based categorization, context-based categorization, and distortions in the recollection of gender ambiguous faces. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology,41, 598–608.
29. Huttenlocher, J., Hedges, L. V., & Bradburn, N. M. (1990). Reports of elapsed time: Bounding and rounding processes in estimation. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition,16, 196–213.
30. Huttenlocher, J., Hedges, L. V., Corrigan, B., & Crawford, L. E. (2004). Spatial categories and the estimation of location. Cognition,93, 75–97.
31. Huttenlocher, J., Hedges, L. V., & Duncan, S. (1991). Categories and particulars: Prototype effects in estimating spatial location. Psychological Review,98, 352–376.
32. Huttenlocher, J., Hedges, L. V., & Prohaska, V. (1988). Hierarchical organization in ordered domains: Estimating the dates of events. Psychological Review,95, 471–484.
33. Huttenlocher, J., Hedges, L. V., & Vevea, J. L. (2000). Why do categories affect stimulus judgment? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,129, 220–241.
34. Iachini, T., Sergi, I., Ruggiero, G., & Gnisci, A. (2005). Gender differences in object location memory in a real three-dimensional environment. Brain and Cognition,59, 52–59.
35. Intraub, H. (1997). The representation of visual scenes. Trends in Cognitive Sciences,1, 217–222.
36. Jager, G., & Postma, A. (2003). On the hemispheric specialization for categorical and coordinate spatial relations: A review of the current evidence. Neuropsychologia,41, 504–515.
37. James, T. W., & Kimura, D. (1997). Sex differences in remembering the locations of objects in an array: Location-shifts versus location exchanges. Evolution and Human Behavior,18, 155–163.
38. Kalichman, S. C. (1988). Individual differences in water level task performance: A component skills analysis. Developmental Review,8, 273–295.
39. Kalichman, S. C. (1989). Sex roles and sex differences in adult spatial performance. Journal of Genetic Psychology,150, 93–100.
40. Koenig, O., Reiss, L. P., & Kosslyn, S. M. (1990). The development of spatial relation representations: Evidence from studies of cerebral lateralization. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,50, 119–130.
41. Kosslyn, S. M. (1987). Seeing and imagining in the cerebral hemispheres: A computational approach. Psychological Review,94, 148–175.
42. Kosslyn, S. M., Koenig, O., Barrett, A., Cave, C. B., Tang, J., & Gabrieli, J. D. E. (1989). Evidence for two types of spatial representations: Hemispheric specialization for categorical and coordinate relations. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance,15, 723–735.
43. Kosslyn, S. M., Thompson, W. L., Gitelman, D. R., & Alpert, N. M. (1998). Neural systems that encode categorical versus coordinate spatial relations: PET investigations. Psychobiology,26, 333–347.
44. Laeng, B. (1994). Lateralization of categorical and coordinate spatial functions: A study of unilateral stroke patients. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience,6, 189–203.
45. Laeng, B., & Peters, M. (1995). Cerebral lateralization for the processing of spatial coordinates an categories in left- and right-handers. Neuropsychologia,33, 421–439.
46. Laeng, B., Peters, M., & McCabe, B. (1998). Memory for locations within regions: Spatial biases and visual hemifield differences. Memory and Cognition,26, 97–107.
47. Levine, N. (2004). Crimestat III: A spatial statistics program for the analysis of crime incident locations (Version 3.0) [Computer software]. Houston, TX: Ned Levine & Associates and Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice.
48. Liben, L. S. (1991). Adults’ performance on horizontality tasks: Conflicting frames of reference. Developmental Psychology,27, 285–294.
49. McBurney, D. H., Gaulin, S. J. C., Devineni, T., & Adams, C. (1997). Superior spatial memory of women: Stronger evidence for the gathering hypothesis. Evolution and Human Behavior,18, 165–174.
50. Nelson, T. O., & Chaiklin, S. (1980). Immediate memory for spatial location. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory,6, 529–545.
51. Newcombe, N. S. (2007). Taking science seriously: Straight thinking about spatial sex differences. In S. J. Ceci & W. M. Williams (Eds.), Why aren’t more women in science? Eminent researchers debate the evidence on a key controversy of our time (pp. 69–78). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
52. Newcombe, N. S., & Huttenlocher, J. (2000). Making space: The development of spatial representation and spatial reasoning. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
53. Newcombe, N., Huttenlocher, J., Sandberg, E., Lie, E., & Johnson, S. (1999). What do misestimations and asymmetries in spatial judgment indicate about spatial representation? Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition,25, 986–996.
54. Piaget, J. & Inhelder, B. (1967). The child’s conception of space (F. J. Langdon & J. L. Lunzer, Trans.). New York:Norton. (Original work published in 1948).
55. Postma, A., & De Haan, E. H. F. (1996). What was where? Memory for object locations. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A: Human Experimental Psychology,49, 178–199.
56. Postma, A., Huntjens, R. J. C., Meuwissen, M., & Laeng, B. (2006). The time course of spatial memory processing in the two hemispheres. Neuropsychologia,44, 1914–1918.
57. Postma, A., Izendoorn, R., & De Haan, E. H. F. (1998). Sex differences and object location memory. Brain and Cognition,36, 334–345.
58. Postma, A., Jager, G., Kessels, R. P. C., Koppeschaar, H. P. F., & Van Honk, J. (2004a). Sex differences for selective forms of spatial memory. Brain and Cognition,54, 24–34.
59. Postma, A., Kessels, R. P. C., & van Asselen, M. (2004b). The neuropsychology of object location memory. In G. L. Allen (Ed.), Human spatial memory: Remembering where (pp. 143–160). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
60. Postma, A., Kessels, R. P. C., & van Asselen, M. (2008). How the brain remembers and forgets where things are: The neurocognition of object-location memory. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews,32, 1339–1345.
61. Postma, A., Winkel, J., Tuiten, A., & van Honk, J. (1999). Sex differences and menstrual cycle effects in human spatial memory. Psychoneuroendocrinology,24, 175–192.
62. Rahman, Q., Abrahams, S., & Jussab, F. (2005). Sex differences in a human analogue of the Radial Arm Maze: The “17-Box Maze Test”. Brain and Cognition,58, 312–317.
63. Rahman, Q., Bakare, M., & Serinsu, C. (2011). No sex difference in spatial location memory for abstract designs. Brain and Cognition,76, 15–19.
64. Roberson, D., Damjanovic, L., & Pilling, M. (2007). Categorical perception of facial expressions: Evidence for a “category adjustment” model. Memory and Cognition,35, 1814–1829.
65. Rybash, J. M., & Hoyer, W. J. (1992). Hemispheric specialization for categorical and coordinate spatial relations: A reappraisal. Memory and Cognition,20, 271–276.
66. Sampaio, C., & Wang, R. F. (2009). Category-based errors and the accessibility of unbiased spatial memories: A retrieval model. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition,35, 1331–1337.
67. Sandberg, E. H., Huttenlocher, J., & Newcombe, N. (1996). The development of hierarchical representation of two-dimensional space. Child Development,67, 721–739.
68. Saucier, D. M., Shultz, S. R., Keller, A. J., Cook, C. M., & Binsted, G. (2008). Sex differences in object location memory and spatial navigation in Long-Evans rats. Animal Cognition,11, 129–137.
69. Schutte, A. R., & Spencer, J. P. (2002). Generalizing the dynamic field theory of the A-not-B error beyond infancy: Three-year-olds’ delay- and experience-dependent location memory biases. Child Development,73, 377–404.
70. Sholl, M. J., & Liben, L. S. (1995). Illusory tilt and Euclidean schemes as factors in performance on the water level task. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition,21, 1624–1638.
71. Signorella, M. L., & Jamison, W. (1978). Sex differences in correlations among field-dependence, spatial ability, sex role orientation, and performance on Piaget’s water level task. Developmental Psychology,14, 689–690.
72. Silverman, I., Choi, J., & Peters, M. (2007a). The hunter-gatherer theory of sex differences in spatial abilities: Data from 40 countries. Archives of Sexual Behavior,36, 261–268.
73. Silverman, I., & Eals, M. (1992). Sex differences in spatial abilities: Evolutionary theory and data. In J. H. Barkow, L. Cosmides, & J. Tooby (Eds.), The adapted mind: Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture (pp. 533–549). New York: Oxford University Press.
74. Silverman, I., Eals, M., & Peters, M. (2007b). The hunter-gatherer theory of sex differences in spatial abilities: Data from 40 countries. Archives of Sexual Behavior,36, 261–268.
75. Simmering, V. R., & Spencer, J. P. (2007). Carving up space at imaginary joints: Can people mentally impose arbitrary spatial category boundaries? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance,33, 871–894.
76. Slotnick, S. D., & Moo, L. R. (2006). Prefrontal cortex hemispheric specialization for categorical and coordinate visual spatial memory. Neuropsychologia,44, 1560–1568.
77. Spencer, J. P., & Hund, A. M. (2002). Prototypes and particulars: Geometric and experience-dependent spatial categories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,131, 16–37.
78. Spencer, J. P., Simmering, V. R., & Schutte, A. R. (2006). Toward a formal theory of flexible spatial behavior: Geometric category biases generalize across pointing and verbal response types. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance,32, 473–490.
79. Stevens, A., & Coupe, P. (1978). Distortions in judged spatial relations. Cognitive Psychology,10, 422–437.
80. Thomas, H., Jamison, W., & Hummel, D. D. (1973). Observation is insufficient for discovering that surface of still water is invariantly horizontal. Science,181, 173–174.
81. Trojano, L., Conson, M., Maffei, R., & Grossi, D. (2006). Categorical and coordinate spatial processing in the imagery domain investigated by rTMS. Neuropsychologia,44, 1569–1574.
82. Trojano, L., Grossi, D., Linden, D. E. J., Formisano, E., Goebel, R., Cirillo, S., et al. (2002). Coordinate and categorical judgments in spatial imagery: An fMRI study. Neuropsychologia,40, 1666–1674.
83. Tversky, B. (1981). Distortions in memory for maps. Cognitive Psychology,13, 407–433.
84. Tversky, B. (2000). Remembering spaces. In E. Tulving & F. I. M. Craik (Eds.), Handbook of memory (pp. 363–378). New York: Oxford University Press.
85. Twyman, A. D., Newcombe, N. S., & Gould, T. J. (2013). Malleability in the development of spatial reorientation. Developmental Psychobiology,55, 243–255.
86. Uttal, D. H., Friedman, A., Hand, L. L., & Warren, C. (2010). Learning fine-grained and category information in a navigable real-world space. Memory and Cognition,38, 1026–1040.
87. Van der Ham, I. J. M., & Borst, G. (2011). Individual differences in spatial relation processing: Effects of strategy, ability, and gender. Brain and Cognition,76, 184–190.
88. Van der Ham, I. J. M., Raemaekers, M., van Wezel, R. J. A., Oleksiak, A., & Postma, A. (2009). Categorical and coordinate spatial relations in working memory: An fMRI study. Brain Research,1297, 70–79.
89. Van der Ham, I. J. M., van Wezel, R. J. A., Oleksiak, A., & Postma, A. (2007). The time course of hemispheric differences in categorical and coordinate spatial processing. Neuropsychologia,45, 2492–2498.
90. Van der Ham, I. J. M., van Zandvoort, M. J. E., Frijns, C. J. M., Kappelle, L. J., & Postma, A. (2011). Hemispheric differences in spatial relation processing in a scene perception task: A neuropsychological study. Neuropsychologia,49, 999–1005.
91. Vasta, R., Belongia, C., & Ribble, C. (1994). Investigating the orientation effect on the water-level task: Who? When? And why? Developmental Psychology,30, 893–904.
92. Vasta, R., Knott, J. A., & Gaze, C. E. (1996). Can spatial training erase the gender differences on the water-level task? Psychology of Women Quarterly,20, 549–567.
93. Vasta, R., & Liben, L. S. (1996). The water-level task: An intriguing puzzle. Current Directions in Psychological Science,5, 171–177.
94. Vasta, R., Rosenberg, D., Knott, J. A., & Gaze, C. E. (1997). Experience and the water-level task revisited: Does expertise exact a price? Psychological Science,8, 336–339.
95. Verbeek, E., & Spetch, M. (2008). Distortions in location memory. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review,15, 328–336.
96. Vernon, P. E. (1971). The structure of human abilities. London: Methuen.
97. Voyer, D., Postma, A., Brake, B., & McGinley, J. I. (2007). Gender differences in object location memory: A meta-analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review,14, 23–28.
98. Wechsler, D. (1981). The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised. New York: The Psychological Corporation.
99. Wedell, D. H., Fitting, S., & Allen, G. L. (2007). Shape effects on memory for location. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review,14, 681–686.
100. Werner, S., & Diedrichsen, J. (2002). The time course of spatial memory distortions. Memory and Cognition,30, 718–730.
101. Williams, C. L., Barnett, A. M., & Meck, W. H. (1990). Organizational effects of early gonadal secretions on sexual differentiation in spatial memory. Behavioral Neuroscience,104, 84–97.
102. Wittig, M. A., & Allen, M. J. (1984). Measurement of adult performance on Piaget water horizontality task. Intelligence,8, 305–313.
103. Zar, J. H. (1998). Biostatistical analysis (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.