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CATEGORIES:Lectures & Conferences
DESCRIPTION:Sex Differences in Adults’ Spatial Ability: Influences of Spati
 al Experiences and Affective Factors\n\nby Carlos J. Desme\n\nSpatial abili
 ty plays a crucial role in how we understand\, navigate\, and interact with
  our environment (Yilmaz\, 2009). It involves the capacity to mentally mani
 pulate two- and three-dimensional objects\, infer spatial relationships\, v
 isualize movements\, and comprehend object transformations (Lohman\, 2013).
  This dissertation explores why there are sex differences in spatial abilit
 ies\, focusing on both large-scale (extrinsic\; e.g.\, perspective-taking/s
 patial orientation) tasks and small-scale (intrinsic\; e.g.\, mental rotati
 on) tests. Specifically\, it examines how social and affective factors cont
 ribute to sex differences.\n\nChapter 1 presents a comprehensive literature
  review on sex differences in spatial ability\, framed within a development
 al systems theory perspective. This review considers both well-established 
 and underexplored factors that may explain spatial ability performance. Cha
 pter 2 introduces an empirical study designed to investigate interactions a
 mong key predictors of sex differences in mental rotation test (MRT) perfor
 mance using structural equation modeling (SEM). These predictors include en
 gagement with designated spatial activities\, spatial anxiety\, and confide
 nce\, all contextualized within an individual’s developmental trajectory. F
 indings indicate that one’s biological sex influences engagement with spati
 al activities in childhood\, levels of spatial anxiety in emerging adulthoo
 d\, and confidence in performing MRT. Chapter 3 describes a second empirica
 l study involving two mediation models. The first model tests whether confi
 dence mediates the relation between biological sex and MRT performance\, wh
 ile the second examines whether confidence mediates the relation between se
 x and perspective-taking/spatial orientation (PTSOT). The results demonstra
 te that confidence significantly mediates the relation between biological s
 ex and spatial ability outcomes.\n\nOverall\, this dissertation contributes
  to the field of spatial ability research by replicating known findings and
  identifying novel predictors of sex differences across both intrinsic (sma
 ll-scale) and extrinsic (large-scale) spatial domains. Importantly\, it int
 egrates a developmental theoretical framework with empirical studies to pro
 vide a comprehensive view of how sex differences in spatial ability may eme
 rge and evolve across the lifespan.
DTEND:20251106T200000Z
DTSTAMP:20260312T164832Z
DTSTART:20251106T190000Z
LOCATION:DM - 223\, 223
SEQUENCE:0
SUMMARY:Doctoral Dissertation Defense
UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_50842216765728
URL:https://calendar.fiu.edu/event/doctoral-dissertation-defense-9429
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