Biomaterial Database

Preschoolers' mental rotation: sex differences in hemispheric asymmetry. 2010

Nicola Hahn, and Petra Jansen, and Martin Heil

University of Regensburg, Germany.

Mental rotation performance has been found to produce one of the largest sex differences in cognition accompanied by sex differences in functional cerebral asymmetry. Although sex differences in mental rotation performance can be reliably demonstrated as early as age 5 years old, that is, long before puberty, no data exist as to whether preschooler's mental rotation performance is accompanied by sex differences in functional cerebral asymmetry. Based on the electrophysiological brain correlates of mental rotation, we observed a bilateral parietal brain activity for preschool boys whereas the preschool girls' brain activity was clearly lateralized toward the left hemisphere if and only if mental rotation was needed to solve the task. Thus, sex differences in functional cerebral asymmetry during mental rotation do not require hormonal changes that occur during puberty.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007092	Imagination	A new pattern of perceptual or ideational material derived from past experience.	Imaginations
D007839	Functional Laterality	Behavioral manifestations of cerebral dominance in which there is preferential use and superior functioning of either the left or the right side, as in the preferred use of the right hand or right foot.	Ambidexterity,Behavioral Laterality,Handedness,Laterality of Motor Control,Mirror Writing,Laterality, Behavioral,Laterality, Functional,Mirror Writings,Motor Control Laterality,Writing, Mirror,Writings, Mirror
D008297	Male		Males
D009483	Neuropsychological Tests	Tests designed to assess neurological function associated with certain behaviors. They are used in diagnosing brain dysfunction or damage and central nervous system disorders or injury.	Aphasia Tests,Cognitive Test,Cognitive Testing,Cognitive Tests,Memory for Designs Test,Neuropsychological Testing,AX-CPT,Behavioral Assessment of Dysexecutive Syndrome,CANTAB,Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery,Clock Test,Cognitive Function Scanner,Continuous Performance Task,Controlled Oral Word Association Test,Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System,Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment,Hooper Visual Organization Test,NEPSY,Neuropsychologic Tests,Neuropsychological Test,Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test,Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status,Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure,Symbol Digit Modalities Test,Test of Everyday Attention,Test, Neuropsychological,Tests, Neuropsychological,Tower of London Test,Neuropsychologic Test,Test, Cognitive,Testing, Cognitive,Testing, Neuropsychological,Tests, Cognitive
D009949	Orientation	Awareness of oneself in relation to time, place and person.	Cognitive Orientation,Mental Orientation,Psychological Orientation,Cognitive Orientations,Mental Orientations,Orientation, Cognitive,Orientation, Mental,Orientation, Psychological,Orientations,Orientations, Cognitive,Orientations, Mental,Orientations, Psychological,Psychological Orientations
D001931	Brain Mapping	Imaging techniques used to colocalize sites of brain functions or physiological activity with brain structures.	Brain Electrical Activity Mapping,Functional Cerebral Localization,Topographic Brain Mapping,Brain Mapping, Topographic,Functional Cerebral Localizations,Mapping, Brain,Mapping, Topographic Brain
D002540	Cerebral Cortex	The thin layer of GRAY MATTER on the surface of the CEREBRAL HEMISPHERES that develops from the TELENCEPHALON and folds into gyri and sulci. It reaches its highest development in humans and is responsible for intellectual faculties and higher mental functions.	Allocortex,Archipallium,Cortex Cerebri,Cortical Plate,Paleocortex,Periallocortex,Allocortices,Archipalliums,Cerebral Cortices,Cortex Cerebrus,Cortex, Cerebral,Cortical Plates,Paleocortices,Periallocortices,Plate, Cortical
D002648	Child	A person 6 to 12 years of age. An individual 2 to 5 years old is CHILD, PRESCHOOL.	Children
D002675	Child, Preschool	A child between the ages of 2 and 5.	Children, Preschool,Preschool Child,Preschool Children
D004569	Electroencephalography	Recording of electric currents developed in the brain by means of electrodes applied to the scalp, to the surface of the brain, or placed within the substance of the brain.	EEG,Electroencephalogram,Electroencephalograms