Sex differences in the development of global motion perception

• In Event: Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: PS 14 Topic - Perceptual, Sensory, Motor

Abstract

There is growing evidence for sex differences in adult visual perception (e.g., Murray et al., 2018). However, there is relatively little evidence for sex ¬differences in visual perception in children. In this study, we investigated sex differences in global motion perception in five- to eight-year-old children and a sample of young adults. Thirty children and 30 young adults viewed pairs of radial or linear optic flow displays that were mixed with different levels of random noise and presented at one of two speeds (2 deg/s or 8 deg/s). Participants selected the display with coherent motion either by button press (adults) or pointing (children). The results indicated significant sex differences. Both male children and adults had higher accuracy than their female peers (both ps < 0.05). A Signal Detection Theory (SDT) analysis focusing on the noise level (85% noise/15% coherence) where both children and adults provided data showed some subtleties. Male adults (p < 0.05), but not male children (p = 0.10), had higher perceptual sensitivity to optic flow than females. Male adults outperformed female adults in the linear motion condition (p < 0.05) but there were no sex differences in the radial condition (p = 0.82). Female adults had significantly higher accuracy when detecting optic flow at the slower speed than at the faster speed (p < 0.001), while males did not (p = 0.67). However, the interaction effects between sex and speed or pattern type found in adults were not found in children. We conclude that sex differences in motion processing exist as early as middle childhood, and thus differences observed in adults have developmental origins. This study generates fresh insights to developmental processes in global motion perception. Since adolescent and adult males outperform females in spatial tasks and mechanical abilities (Berenbaum, Bryk, & Beltz, 2012), future research should investigate sex differences in visual motion perception earlier in development and examine relations with other non-visual tasks.

Authors

• Yiming Qian, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Presenting Author

• Andrea Seisler
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rick Gilmore, Pennsylvania State University
  Non-Presenting Author