Sustained attention in adulthood: A unique, large-sample, longitudinal and multicohort analysis using the Mackworth Clock-Test.

A cross-sectional sample of men (n?=?177) tested in 1962–1964, and men (n?=?188) and women (n?=?113) tested in 1980–1984, and a longitudinal sample (n?=?53) of men tested in 1962–1964 and 1980–1984, were used to investigate age differences and 18-year age changes on a 62-min sensory vigilance task that made virtually no demand on memory, the Mackworth Clock-Test. Age differences and changes in the vigilance decrement were also examined. No age differences or changes were obtained for detection accuracy. Target response time showed significant age-related 18-year longitudinal changes and one significant cross-sectional age difference; the overall age effect was of a U-shaped function with a minimum at middle age. Age differences and changes were obtained in a measure of arousal: skin potential response latency; the overall age effect was also consistent with a U-shaped function. There was little consistent evidence of a differential effect of age on the vigilance decrement. Outcomes contradictory to Surwillo and Quilter (1964) and Quilter, Giambra, and Benson (1983) are reconciled through additional statistical analyses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in self-disclosure: A meta-analysis.

Conducted a meta-analysis of 205 studies involving 23,702 Ss to determine whether there are sex differences in self-disclosure. Across these studies, women disclosed slightly more than men (d?=?18). This effect size was not homogeneous across studies. Several moderator variables were found. Sex of target and the interaction effect of relationship to target and measure of self-disclosure moderated the effect of sex on self-disclosure. Sex differences in self-disclosure were significantly greater to female and same-sex partners than to opposite-sex or male partners. When the target had a relationship with the discloser (i.e., friend, parent, or spouse), women disclosed more than men regardless of whether self-disclosure was measured by self-report or observation. When the target was a stranger, men reported that they disclosed similarly to women; however, studies using observational measures of self-disclosure found that women disclosed more than men. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do women really excel over men in manual dexterity?

One of the axiomatic claims of both academic and folk psychology is that women have greater manual dexterity than men. On the basis of the performance of right-handed men (N?=?47) and women (N?=?57) on 6 different motor tasks, this general claim is shown not to be valid. On a peg-moving task with thick pegs that can easily be picked up by large hands and that required a large movement trajectory, men performed better than women, whereas on a peg-moving task with very thin pegs, women performed better than men. When the same thin pegs were picked up and placed with tweezers, eliminating finger size as a factor, sex differences disappeared. A tapping and a sequencing task favored men. The results show that a variety of factors other than dexterity determine magnitude and direction of sex differences on fine motor tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marked sex differences on a fine motor skill task disappear when finger size is used as covariate.

Purdue Pegboard performance of 16 male and 25 female right-handed college students were compared, and results were replicated with 25 male and 28 female subjects. In agreement with the literature, women performed significantly better than men. When measures of index finger and thumb thickness were used as covariate, all significant sex differences in performance disappeared. Negative correlations between performance and finger size were observed in both sexes. Sex differences in fine manual dexterity tasks may therefore be confounded by sex differences in finger size. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are changes in blood pressure and total cholesterol related to changes in mood? An 18-month study of men and women.

The authors investigated the within-person association of reported mood with blood pressure and total cholesterol (TC) levels, each assessed 4 times over an 18-month period in 128 men and 154 women. Change over time in tense arousal was significantly positively associated with changes over time in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) but not TC. A change in hedonic tone was significantly associated with SBP (an increase in negative affect was associated with an increase in SBP) but not with DBP or TC. There were no sex differences in associations of mood with SBP or TC. However, increases in tense arousal and negative affect were significantly associated with an increase in DBP for women but not men. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The moderating influence of physical fitness on age gradients in vigilance and serial choice responding tasks.

The moderating influence of physical fitness on age gradients in measures obtained from vigilance and serial choice responding tasks is examined in a sample of 90 postal workers. Physiological data relating to aerobic fitness determined fitness level within 2 age groups: younger participants ages 18 to 30 years (M ?=?25.19; 24 men, 24 women) and older participants ages 43 to 62 years (M ?=?49.19; 20 men, 22 women). A performance decrement across time was found in several measures, and some variation as a function of age was apparent. However, post hoc statistical analyses did not indicate this was due to older adults underperforming younger adults. According to predictions, significant Age?×?Fitness interactions showed older less fit workers to consistently underperform other participants. The findings suggest that older less fit individuals have lower signal sensitivity and processing speed than older fitter people and younger individuals. Results are discussed in relation to underlying physiological mechanisms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth order and sexual orientation in women.

One of the world's largest databases on human sexuality was used to investigate whether lesbians, like homosexual men, have a later birth order relative to heterosexual comparisons. The women (N?>?5,000) were interviewed by investigators at the Kinsey Institute for Sex and Reproduction from 1938 to 1963. The women were dichotomously classified as lesbian (n?=?257) or heterosexual (n?=?5,008). No significant birth order effect was observed. Results support theories of gender-specific mechanisms in the development of sexual orientation in women and men. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in cue perception in a visual scene: Investigation of cue type.

Sex differences in spatial navigation indicate that women may focus on positional, landmark cues whereas men favor Euclidean, directional cues. Some studies have investigated sex differences in proximal and distal cue use; however, sex differences in gradient (i.e., graded features) and pinpoint (i.e., single, defined) cue perception remain unexamined. In the current experiments, paired photographs were presented in which the 2nd photograph showed the same scene with cues removed (Experiment 1) or isolated (Experiment 2) from the 1st photograph. In Experiment 1, women showed less disruption of task performance than men showed following cue removal but were slowest after proximal pinpoint cue removal. Male performance was slowed by distal gradient and proximal pinpoint cue removal. In Experiment 2, women were faster than men at identifying isolated proximal and distal pinpoint cues and were more accurate at identifying isolated distal gradient and distal pinpoint cues. Better pinpoint cue perception and memory in women indicates one possible mechanism underlying female preference for landmark-based navigation strategies. Findings also show that whereas men may preferentially rely on distal gradient cues they are not better at perceiving those cues than are women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex Differences and Individual Differences in Cognitive Performance and Their Relationship to Endogenous Gonadal Hormones and Gonadotropins.

Sexually dimorphic cognitive performance in men (n=42) and women (n=42) was related to testosterone, estradiol, progesterone, luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, and sex hormone binding globulin, measured in 10-ml blood samples collected between 0900 and 1030 and, among women, during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. Significant sex differences favored men on spatial tasks (Mental Rotation and Judgment of Line Orientation) and on an inhibition task and favored women on a verbal task (category fluency). However, there were no significant relationships between any of the hormones and cognitive performance, suggesting that there are few, if any, consistent, substantial relationships between endogenous, nonfluctuating levels of gonadal hormones or gonadotropins and these cognitive abilities in men or women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Classification criteria in middle and old age.

In Exp I, 32 middle-aged and 32 elderly Ss were presented with the Conceptual Styles Test. A 2 * 2 (Age * Sex) analysis of variance on the percentage of complementary responses obtained on this test reveals that Age and the Age * Sex interaction were significant. The middle-aged men gave significantly fewer complementary responses than the other 3 groups. It is suggested that these results reflect sex differences in the course of cognitive development which may result from the differential experiences and life-styles of adult males and adult females. To investigate the effect of one of the most apparent differences between the experiences of middle-aged men and middle-aged women-occupation-the performance of 10 professional and 10 nonprofessional men and 10 professional and 10 nonprofessional women was compared in Exp II. A 2 * 2 (Sex * Type of Occupation) analysis of variance on the percentage of complementary responses given on the Conceptual Styles Test yielded only 1 significant effect. Nonprofessionals gave significantly more complementary responses than professionals. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Autonomic nervous system activity in autistic, schizophrenic, and normal men: Effects of stimulus significance.

Deficits in attention and cognition in autistic children have been attributed to problems in the early stages of stimulus processing and to autonomic dysregulation, but the evidence is conflicting. Our study addressed this problem by recording skin conductance, skin temperature, respiration rate, and heart rate (HR) during (a) a rest period, (b) a series of nonsignal tones, and (c) a simple warned reaction time (RT) task in autistic, schizophrenic, and normal men; we sought to remove extraneous sources of variance by testing only high-functioning autistic men (n?=?13); age?=?18–39). Control subjects were age-matched normal men (n?=?19) and schizophrenic men (n?=?13) not chronically hospitalized. Autistic men had higher respiration rates, lower skin temperature, and higher HR variability at rest than controls. They were not different on other arousal measures or generally in responding to nonsignal tones but had severely impaired tonic and phasic autonomic responses and motor responses in the RT task. Schizophrenic subjects were also impaired but significantly less so in some aspects of responding. The results do not suggest problems in stimulus processing, but there is evidence of autonomic dysregulation and a pronounced inability to mobilize processing resources appropriately, perhaps a common problem with schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender and adult roles: Role commitment of women and men in a job-family trade-off context.

The dimensionality that underlies the preferences of female (n?=?87) and male (n?=?31) college students for combining work and parent roles was investigated using conjoint measurement techniques. Both groups construed the role trade-offs and intensity of involvement with these roles differently as they applied to women and men. Results for female roles confirm and extend L. C. Coombs's (1979) findings—both women and men perceived a job–child trade-off dimension and a total involvement (percentage of time devoted to job and number of children desired) dimension for women. Results differed for male roles. Students perceived these life roles to be independent, rather than contingent, choices for men. The trade-off context is important for assessment and counseling. The perceived independence of these roles for men poses a dilemma regarding counseling practice for both sexes: whether to confirm sex role perceptions or explore discrepancies in expectations and equity implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Body vigilance in panic disorder: Evaluating attention to bodily perturbations.

Body vigilance, consciously attending to internal cues, is a normal adaptive process. The present report investigated whether body vigilance is exaggerated among those with panic disorder, a condition characterized by intense fear and worry regarding bodily sensations. The Body Vigilance Scale is validated in nonclinical and anxiety disorder patients. Study 1 suggests that body vigilance is normally distributed in a nonclinical sample (n?=?472) but vigilance is related to a history of spontaneous panic attacks, anxiety symptomatology, and anxiety sensitivity. Study 2 suggests that body vigilance is elevated in panic disorder patients (n?=?48) relative to social phobia patients (n?=?18) and nonclinical controls (n?=?71). During cognitive-behavioral treatment, panic disorder patients show substantial reductions in body vigilance associated with reductions in anxiety symptomatology. Anxiety sensitivity was found to be related to body vigilance and to predict changes in body vigilance during treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neural correlates of sexual arousal in homosexual and heterosexual men.

Men exhibit much higher levels of genital and subjective arousal to sexual stimuli containing their preferred sex than they do to stimuli containing only the nonpreferred sex. This study used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate how this category-specific pattern would be reflected in the brains of homosexual (n = 11) and heterosexual (n = 11) men. Comparisons of activation to preferred sexual stimuli, nonpreferred sexual stimuli, and sports stimuli revealed large networks correlated with sexual arousal, spanning multiple cortical and subcortical areas. Both homosexual and heterosexual men exhibited category-specific arousal in brain activity. Within the amygdala, greater preference-related activity was observed in homosexual men, but it is unclear whether this is a cause or a consequence of their sexuality. In a subsequent analysis of regions hypothesized to support arousal, both participant groups demonstrated widespread increases in evoked activity for preferred stimuli. Aggregate data from these regions produced significant differences between stimulus types in 16 out of 22 participants. Significant activational differences matched reported sexual orientation in 15 of these 16 participants, representing an advance in psychophysiological measures of arousal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender and the effects of different doses of nicotine gum on tobacco withdrawal symptoms.

Women and men were compared on the extent to which 2-mg (n?=?40), 4-mg (n?=?41), and 4-mg then 2-mg (n?=?47) nicotine gum prescribed over an 8-week period relieved cigarette withdrawal symptoms. Gender differences for nicotine gum withdrawal symptoms across doses were also examined. Results showed that women assigned to 2-mg nicotine gum experienced more severe cigarette withdrawal symptoms than those assigned to the other gum conditions. In general, no differences for nicotine gum dose in relieving cigarette withdrawal symptoms were observed in men. Women experienced more severe cigarette withdrawal symptoms than men, predominantly in the 2-mg nicotine gum condition. Women also experienced greater withdrawal symptoms from nicotine gum compared with men. For both genders, those assigned to the 4-mg nicotine gum group throughout treatment experienced more severe nicotine gum withdrawal than those assigned to the other nicotine gum conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in schizotypal personality in a nonclinical population.

This study tests the hypothesis that normal women will score higher on the more "positive" features of schizotypal personality and normal men will score higher on more "negative" schizotypal features. Two samples (n?=?393, 394) were administered the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire, which contains subscales corresponding to the 9 schizotypal personality traits outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-III—Revised (DSM-III—R). Women scored significantly higher on the positive subscales of Ideas of Reference and Odd Beliefs/Magical Thinking, and men scored significantly higher on the negative subscales of No Close Friends and Constricted Affect. These findings replicated from one sample to another. These results are broadly consistent with previous findings on schizotypal personality and schizophrenia. It is hypothesized that sex differences in schizophrenic symptomatology may in part reflect an exaggeration of normal sex difference in the general population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are men's and women's brains really different?

Suggests that sex hormones have been shown to determine basic sexual differentiation in utero and to influence the level of certain cognitive abilities. Sex differences in brain morphology are known to undergo systematic changes throughout the prenatal period. In the adult, brain organization for basic speech and related motor praxic function and for some verbal intelligence functions differs for women and men. Adult cognitive sex differences may to some extent reflect pre- and perinatal sexual dimorphism in brain organization at critical stages of development. Possible evolutionary bases for sex differences in brain organization are discussed. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Above the glass ceiling? A comparison of matched samples of female and male executives.

In this study the authors compare career and work experiences of executive women and men. Female (n?=?51) and male (n?=?56) financial services executives in comparable jobs were studied through archival information on organizational outcomes and career histories, and survey measures of work experiences. Similarities were found in several organizational outcomes, such as compensation, and many work attitudes. Important differences were found, however, with women having less authority, receiving fewer stock options, and having less international mobility than men. Women at the highest executive levels reported more obstacles than lower level women. The gender differences coupled with women's lower satisfaction with future career opportunities raise questions about whether women are truly above the glass ceiling or have come up against a 2nd, higher ceiling. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Weight changes in caregivers of Alzheimer's care recipients: Psychobehavioral predictors.

Relationships of changes in body mass index (BMI) were examined with changes in psychobehavioral variables in spouse caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's disease (n?=?81) and matched spouses of controls (n?=?86). Men caregivers had significantly greater BMI and obesity than men controls at both times. Over 15–18 months, women caregivers gained significantly more weight than did women controls. A trend for greater obesity occurred in women caregivers than in women controls at follow-up. Although weight gain was not related to psychobehavioral variables in controls, in men caregivers decreased perceived control and increased fat intake explained significant variance in weight gain. In women caregivers, increased anger control and increased calories explained weight gain. Such caregivers may be at risk for health problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)