A recent meta-synthesis study with a sample of >12 million participants revealed that the male advantage in mental rotation (MR) is the largest cognitive sex/gender difference found in psychological literature. MR requires test takers to mentally rotate three-dimensional cubic figures under time restrictions. Previous studies have investigated how biological and social factors contribute to cognitive sex/gender differences in tasks of this type. Spatial anxiety and self-confidence in MR tasks have received less attention. The present study investigated the contribution of these psychological factors to sex/gender differences in MR performance. Participants (n = 269) completed two MR tasks that differed in task difficulty. Participants also indicated their self-confidence (for each item) and spatial anxiety. The results revealed that pronounced sex/gender differences in spatial anxiety and self-confidence mediate sex/gender in MR performance, especially when task demands are high. The current findings suggest that task-irrelevant factors that are not spatial cognitive in nature contribute largely to the well-known medium to large sex/gender differences in MR. Future studies should further explore mechanisms underlying cognitive sex/gender differences within a biopsychosocial approach.

中文翻译：

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空间焦虑和自信在心理旋转中调节性别/性别差异

最近一项包含超过 1200 万参与者样本的荟萃综合研究表明，男性在心理旋转 (MR) 方面的优势是心理学文献中发现的最大的认知性别/性别差异。MR要求考生在时间限制下，在脑海中旋转三维立体图形。以前的研究已经调查了生物和社会因素如何导致此类任务中的认知性别/性别差异。MR 任务中的空间焦虑和自信受到的关注较少。本研究调查了这些心理因素对 MR 表现中性别/性别差异的贡献。参与者（n= 269) 完成了两个任务难度不同的 MR 任务。参与者还表示了他们的自信（对于每个项目）和空间焦虑。结果表明，空间焦虑和自信方面的明显性别/性别差异在 MR 表现中调节性别/性别，尤其是在任务要求很高的情况下。目前的研究结果表明，本质上不是空间认知的与任务无关的因素在很大程度上促成了众所周知的 MR 中到大的性别/性别差异。未来的研究应进一步探索生物心理社会方法中认知性别/性别差异的潜在机制。