An examination of factors that may contribute to gender differences in psychomotor processing speed

Abstract Background For unknown reasons, females outperform males on tests of psychomotor processing speed (PS), such as the Coding and Symbol Search subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. Method In the present study, the effects of intelligence, memory, personality, fine motor speed, gr...

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Main Authors:	Eka Roivainen, Frans Suokas, Anne Saari
Format:	article
Language:	EN
Published:	BMC 2021
Subjects:	Processing speed Gender differences Cognition Motor speed Psychology BF1-990
Online Access:	https://doaj.org/article/6ef464d6b51e470f9350a823457c031e
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:6ef464d6b51e470f9350a823457c031e2021-12-05T12:18:08ZAn examination of factors that may contribute to gender differences in psychomotor processing speed10.1186/s40359-021-00698-02050-7283https://doaj.org/article/6ef464d6b51e470f9350a823457c031e2021-12-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-021-00698-0https://doaj.org/toc/2050-7283Abstract Background For unknown reasons, females outperform males on tests of psychomotor processing speed (PS), such as the Coding and Symbol Search subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. Method In the present study, the effects of intelligence, memory, personality, fine motor speed, gross motor dexterity, height, weight, age, sex, and education on psychomotor processing speed were studied in an outpatient sample (n = 130). Results Moderate (r > .40) correlations were found between PS and verbal reasoning, nonverbal reasoning, verbal memory, and fine motor speed. Weak (r > .20) correlations were found between PS and gross motor dexterity, extraversion, education, weight, and sex. Females outperformed males in PS and in fine motor speed. Stepwise linear regression analysis indicated nonverbal reasoning, fine motor speed, and sex as independent predictors of PS. Conclusions One interpretation of the results is that the factors underlying sex differences in processing speed are not psychological but neurological or physiological in nature and therefore a wider variety of measures from these disciplines are needed for further studies. For clinical assessment purposes, psychological tests should preferably provide different norms for male and female PS scores.Eka RoivainenFrans SuokasAnne SaariBMCarticleProcessing speedGender differencesCognitionMotor speedPsychologyBF1-990ENBMC Psychology, Vol 9, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Processing speed Gender differences Cognition Motor speed Psychology BF1-990
spellingShingle	Processing speed Gender differences Cognition Motor speed Psychology BF1-990 Eka Roivainen Frans Suokas Anne Saari An examination of factors that may contribute to gender differences in psychomotor processing speed
description	Abstract Background For unknown reasons, females outperform males on tests of psychomotor processing speed (PS), such as the Coding and Symbol Search subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. Method In the present study, the effects of intelligence, memory, personality, fine motor speed, gross motor dexterity, height, weight, age, sex, and education on psychomotor processing speed were studied in an outpatient sample (n = 130). Results Moderate (r > .40) correlations were found between PS and verbal reasoning, nonverbal reasoning, verbal memory, and fine motor speed. Weak (r > .20) correlations were found between PS and gross motor dexterity, extraversion, education, weight, and sex. Females outperformed males in PS and in fine motor speed. Stepwise linear regression analysis indicated nonverbal reasoning, fine motor speed, and sex as independent predictors of PS. Conclusions One interpretation of the results is that the factors underlying sex differences in processing speed are not psychological but neurological or physiological in nature and therefore a wider variety of measures from these disciplines are needed for further studies. For clinical assessment purposes, psychological tests should preferably provide different norms for male and female PS scores.
format	article
author	Eka Roivainen Frans Suokas Anne Saari
author_facet	Eka Roivainen Frans Suokas Anne Saari
author_sort	Eka Roivainen
title	An examination of factors that may contribute to gender differences in psychomotor processing speed
title_short	An examination of factors that may contribute to gender differences in psychomotor processing speed
title_full	An examination of factors that may contribute to gender differences in psychomotor processing speed
title_fullStr	An examination of factors that may contribute to gender differences in psychomotor processing speed
title_full_unstemmed	An examination of factors that may contribute to gender differences in psychomotor processing speed
title_sort	examination of factors that may contribute to gender differences in psychomotor processing speed
publisher	BMC
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/6ef464d6b51e470f9350a823457c031e
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An examination of factors that may contribute to gender differences in psychomotor processing speed

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