Abstract

Unequal performances by men and women on visuospatial tests are among the most reliably replicated sex differences. It is unclear to what extent these test performance differences reflect underlying skill differences or testing factors. To determine whether testing medium and response format affect visuospatial sex differences, 100 male and 104 female participants' performances were examined on a visuospatial task presented in paper-and-pencil and tablet computer form. Both male and female participants performed better when tested on paper, although men outperformed women. The introduction of an open-ended component to the visuospatial task eliminated sex differences when accounting for prior spatial experiences, but men continued to outperform women when prior spatial experiences were not considered. In general, the open-ended version and computer testing of the test diminished performances suggesting that response format and medium are testing factors that influence visuospatial abilities.