ArticleHeliyon2023
Persistent gender differences in spatial ability, even in STEM experts.
Article in Heliyon, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- Beyond the Total Score: Revealing Cognitive Heterogeneity in High Ability Through Latent Profile Analysis.Journal of Intelligence · 2026Article
- Does sport expertise bridge the sex gap in mental rotation? Bayesian evidence for the critical role of visuospatial demands.Psychological research · 2026Article
- Leverage Points for Wellbeing and Achievement in Vocational Education: A Network Analysis of Psychological Factors Across Gender and Majors.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Anxiety and Performance in High-Achieving Adolescents: Associations Among 8 General and Specific Anxiety Measures and 13 School Grades.PsyCh journal · 2026Article
- Sex Differences in Spatial Cognition Extend Beyond Vision: Insights From the Audio-Corsi Test.The European journal of neuroscience · 2025Article
- Developing a novel measure of non-rigid, ductile spatial skill.Cognitive research: principles and implications · 2025Article
- Elusive Sources for Gender Differences in Spatial Ability: The Role of Personality, Spatial Interests, and Everyday Behaviours.Psychology in Russia : state of the art · 2025Article
- Unique models of embodied cognition and eco-social niches proposed to validate hypothesis of social attunement and mis-attunement with a focus on autism.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Locating the potential development of spatial ability in the Swedish national curriculum.Heliyon · 2024Article
- Metabotropic NMDA Receptor Signaling Contributes to Sex Differences in Synaptic Plasticity and Episodic Memory.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Axial rotation affects the cognitive characteristics of spatial ability.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Spatial ability (SA) shows wide variability. One proposed explanation for the observed individual difference in SA is variability in interest and engagement in activities that promote spatial ability. Research also robustly shown that males on average outperform females in most aspects of SA. Previous studies have identified a number of activities that can potentially contribute to both individual and gender differences in SA, including tinkering with electronics, particular sports activities, and designing. However, the findings regarding these links are inconsistent. One way to investigate these links is to compare the groups that are intensively engaged with these activities. Aim: The present study aims to evaluate the robustness of these links by comparing SA in adolescents with expertise in STEM, arts, and sports, with their unselected peers. We also aimed to assess whether gender differences in SA are still present in expert groups. Methods: The data on ten small-scale SA tests was collected in an unselected sample of adolescents (N = 864, Mean age = 15.4, SD = 1.1); as well as in 3 samples of adolescents with expertise in STEM (N = 667, Mean age = 15, SD = 1.2); in Arts (N = 280, Mean age = 15, SD = 1.2) and in Sports (N = 444, Mean age = 14.3, SD = 0.7). Results: Out of the three expert groups, only STEM experts on average outperformed the unselected group on all SA tasks. The STEM experts also outperformed Arts and Sports experts. Gender differences persisted in all expert groups, with moderate effect sizes. Discussion: Findings support previously established links between spatial ability and STEM-related expertise. In contrast, such links were not found for expertise in arts and sports. Consistent with previous research, we found gender differences in SA for all samples, which persisted in STEM experts.
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