Sex differences in mental rotation: top-down versus bottom-up processing.
| Publication Type | Academic Article |
| Authors | Butler T, Imperato-McGinley J, Pan H, Voyer D, Cordero J, Zhu Y, Stern E, Silbersweig D |
| Journal | Neuroimage |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pagination | 445-56 |
| Date Published | 05/22/2006 |
| ISSN | 1053-8119 |
| Keywords | Brain, Brain Mapping, Mental Processes, Rotation, Sex Characteristics, Space Perception |
| Abstract | Functional MRI during performance of a validated mental rotation task was used to assess a neurobiological basis for sex differences in visuospatial processing. Between-sex group analysis demonstrated greater activity in women than in men in dorsalmedial prefrontal and other high-order heteromodal association cortices, suggesting women performed mental rotation in an effortful, "top-down" fashion. In contrast, men activated primary sensory cortices as well as regions involved in implicit learning (basal ganglia) and mental imagery (precuneus), consistent with a more automatic, "bottom-up" strategy. Functional connectivity analysis in association with a measure of behavioral performance showed that, in men (but not women), accurate performance was associated with deactivation of parieto-insular vestibular cortex (PIVC) as part of a visual-vestibular network. Automatic evocation by men to a greater extent than women of this network during mental rotation may represent an effective, unconscious, bottom-up neural strategy which could reasonably account for men's traditional visuospatial performance advantage. |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.03.030 |
| PubMed ID | 16714123 |