Gender Differences in Mental Rotation Performance Using 2-D and 3-D Molecular Representations

• In Event: Design for Virtual and Multimedia Environments

Abstract

The study examined gender differences in how effectively and efficiently a diverse group of 67 community college students compared models of molecules when these models were provided as 2D and 3D representations. Interestingly, the processing of 2D and 3D models of molecules in the female learners was influenced by the two crystallized cognitive abilities from the NIH Toolbox Cognition battery. The variable that we had hypothesized to have the strongest positive association with performance on this task – Flanker Inhibitory Control – was still positively associated with participant performance but only in the case of male learners.

Authors

• Pasha Antonenko, University of Florida

• Matthew H. Schneps, University of Massachusetts - Boston

• Richard Lamb, Washington State University - Pullman

• Do Hyong Koh, University of Massachusetts - Boston

• Kara M. Dawson, University of Florida

• Kendra Saunders, University of Florida

• Stephen Albert Miller, University of Florida

• Jiahui Wang, Kent State University

• Andrea Burgess, University of Florida

• Li Cheng, University of Florida

• Zhen Xu, University of Florida

• Jingwei Li, University of Florida

• Kaitlynne Hardy-Pieczarka, Roxbury Community College

• Albert Osa Okundaye