The relationship between computer-game preference, gender, and mental-rotation ability

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Abstract

This study examined how computer-game preference relates to mental-rotation test (MRT) performance and to gender differences. Subjects were 861 German secondary-school children (mean age = 14.67; range 10–20 years). Latent class analysis with the data of a computer-game preference scale revealed three types of players: “non-players”, “action-and-simulation game players” and “logic-and-skill-training game players”. Large gender differences were found with respect to class assignment. More females than males were found in the “logic-and-skill-training game player” class (82.9%) and in the class of “non-players” (81.9%). Males in contrast were overrepresented (81.7%) in the class of “action-and-simulation game players”. As expected, males on average outperformed females in mental-rotation test performance (d = 0.63). Furthermore, ANOVA results indicated mean differences in mental-rotation ability between action-and-simulation players and non-players (partial η2 = .01) as well as age differences (partial η2 = .04). With boys, non-players on average had lower MRT scores than action-and-simulation game players. For females, computer-game preference was unrelated to MRT performance. Results are discussed within a nature–nurture-interactionist framework of gender differences in spatial abilities.

Introduction

Gender differences in spatial abilities are well established (Harris, 1981, McGee, 1979). They depend upon many factors like the subdimension of spatial ability (e.g., mental-rotation or visualization), the speed requirement of the test or the test instruction. One of the largest and most reliable gender differences in favour of males can be found in mental-rotation. Here the effect sizes d range from .56 to over 1.10 (e.g., Halpern, 2000, Linn and Peterson, 1985, Voyer et al., 1995).

However, the causes of these differences still remain unclear. Explanations have usually been cast in terms of the nature–nurture controversy (McGee, 1979). On the nature side of the issue biological factors such as genetics, brain lateralization or sex hormones are hypothesized to influence the sex differences (Baron-Cohen, 2003, Hampson, 1990, Kimura, 1992, McGee, 1979). While on the nurture side, socialization and early life experience such as sex-typed play (Denier & Serbin, 1983; Serbin & Connor, 1979), spatial activities (Baenninger and Newcombe, 1989, Baenninger and Newcombe, 1995, Olson and Eliot, 1986), outdoor games involving balls (Bjorklund & Brown, 1998), motivation, self-concept, efficacy, and control have been proposed as explanations for the gender differences (Eccles, 1987).

Many studies revealed that experience has a clear effect on spatial abilities. On the one hand, numerous training studies (e.g., Alington et al., 1992, Connor et al., 1977, Kyllonen et al., 1984, McGee, 1979, Platt and Cohen, 1981, Richardson, 1994) have shown that spatial-test performance can be improved through practice. On the other hand, an improvement of spatial-test performance can also be induced by a training of geometrical skills (Kirby & Boulter, 1999). Furthermore, schooling has a large effect on spatial abilities. For instance, the number of mathematics courses taken is related to spatial-test performance (Burnett and Lane, 1980, Casey et al., 1992). An investigation using the summer vs. school year design has shown that for kindergarten and first-grade children, growth in spatial ability is more rapid during the school year than during the summer (Baenninger & Newcombe, 1995).

Lately, the study of the role of training and experience for individual differences in spatial-test performance has been expanded to computer-related experiences including computer-games (McClurg and Chaillé, 1987, Subrahmanyam and Greenfield, 1994). Playing the computer-game ‘Blockout’, for example, which requires mental-rotation of geometric figures (De Lisi & Cammarano, 1996) and playing the computer game ‘Tetris’, which requires rapid rotation and placement of seven differently-shaped blocks, improved spatial-test performance (Ogakaki & Frensch, 1994).

Many computer applications (e.g., computer-aided design and drawing) and video games (such as Tetris) require spatial processes such as mental rotation and spatial visualization. In research conducted by Norman (1994), the spatial skill level was found to be the most significant predictor of success in the ability to interact with, and take advantage of the computer interface in performing database manipulation.

Technology usage, however, has been masculinized through computer-games and images in the media (Ware & Stuck, 1985). Computers are seen to be ‘boys’ toys and males indicate that they play computer-games more frequently than females (Alington et al., 1992, Goldstein, 1994, Peters et al., 1995). Females, on the other hand, seem to have higher levels of computer anxiety (Brosnan & Davidson, 1994). In a cross-cultural study (Sorby, Leopold, & Górska, 1999), however, for American and Polish engineering students no gender differences were found regarding the play with video and computer-games.

Several studies revealed that benefits for spatial abilities can be obtained from video or computer-game playing (De Lisi and Cammarano, 1996, Dorval and Pepin, 1986, Forsyth and Lancy, 1987, Law et al., 1993, Ogakaki and Frensch, 1994, Subrahmanyam and Greenfield, 1994). In contrast, however, some studies have observed limited effects of video game practice on spatial task performance (Gagnon, 1985, Peters et al., 1995). Ogakaki and Frensch (1994) concluded that the finding of differences on spatial tasks after video-game practice may depend on the types of spatial abilities that are needed and on the match between the abilities involved in the video game and the abilities that are tested. With regard to the relationship between computer-game experience and mental-rotation ability this means that mental-rotation can be better improved through some computer-games than through others.

This study first examined gender differences in MRT performance and in computer-game experience. It also investigated the relationship between computer-game preference and mental-rotation test performance with regard to gender differences in mental-rotation.

It was hypothesized, that girls and boys would differ in their computer-game preference and it was expected that males would outperform females in MRT performance. It was predicted that individuals who had more computer-game experience would achieve a higher score on MRT than those with less computer-game experience. Finally, we expected that some computer-games would be more strongly correlated with high to mental-rotation ability than others.

Section snippets

Participants

The sample investigated here was a subsample taken from a larger investigation on spatial abilities (Geiser, Lehmann, & Eid, in press). This subsample consisted of N = 861 pupils (505 females) from the German Bundesland Sachsen-Anhalt. Mean age of participants was 14.67 years (SD = 2.35; range: 10–20 years). N = 530 subjects (61.6%) went to high school (German Gymnasium; grade range: 7–13), while the rest were secondary school students (German Sekundarschule; grade range: 5–10).

Measures

Mental-rotation

Mental-rotations test

Participants reached a mean MRT score of 9.91 (SD = 4.79). Males scored significantly higher than females [Mmales = 11.69, SDmales = 5.00; Mfemales = 8.67, SDfemales = 4.21; t(654.73) = 9.16; p < .001; effect size d = 0.63] but also showed greater performance variance [Levene test: F(1, 835) = 11.12; p = .001].

Computer-game experience

In the LCA, we selected the solution with 3 latent classes as it showed the lowest BIC value.1 This model

Discussion

The findings of the present study are interesting for a number of reasons. First, they confirm the results of other studies which showed that boys are more used to playing computer-games than girls (Alington et al., 1992, Goldstein, 1994). So, as far as the frequency of computer-game playing is concerned, computer technology still seems to be a male domain and computers still “boys toys” (e.g., Ware & Stuck, 1985). Moreover, our results show that boys and girls prefer different computer-games.

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