GÖRSEL İMGELEMDE KADIN-ERKEK FARKLILIKLARI: NESNESEL VE UZAMSAL İMGELEM

Görsel imgelemde cinsiyet farklılıkları konusunda bulgular tutarlılık göstermemektedir. Alan yazında buna neden olarak, ampirik çalışmalarda görsel imgelemin tekil ve birleşik bir kavram olarak düşünülüyor olması gösterilmektedir. Buradaki araştırmada, görsel imgelem ve cinsiyet ilişkisi, görsel imgelemin iki çeşidi ele alınarak, yani, nesnesel imgelem ve uzamsal imgelem ayrıştırılarak incelenmektedir. Aynı zamanda akademik eğitim (örn., Sosyal Bilimler ya da Mühendislik Bilimleri eğitimi almış olmak) ve görsel imgelemi ölçmek için kullanılana aracın çeşidi (performans tipi ya da özbildirim ölçekleri) de bu ilişki kapsamında değerlendirilmiştir. Bu bağlamda, yüz yirmi (120) üniversite öğrencisi katılımcı, Nesnesel-Uzamsal İmgeleme ve Sözel Ölçeğini (NUS Ölçeği), Görsel İmgelemin Canlılığı Ölçeğini (VVIQ) ve Mental Rotasyon Testi (MRT) tamamlamıştır. Bulgular, kadın katılımcıların görsel imgelemede imgelemin canlılığında ve nesnesel imgelemede erkek katılımcılara göre daha yüksek skorlar aldıklarını; erkek katılımcıların ise mental rotasyonda ve uzamsal imgelemede kadın katılımcılara göre daha yüksek skorlar aldıklarını gözlenmiştir. Ölçüm aracı tipinin ya da akademik eğitimin etkisi gözlenmemiştir. Buna göre, görsel imgeleme çeşitlerinin toplumsal cinsiyet ile ilişkisinde farklı örüntüler izlediği alan yazındaki bulgular ile karşılaştırmalı olarak değerlendirilmiştir.

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN VISUAL IMAGERY: OBJECT AND SPATIAL IMAGERY

Research findings on gender differences in visual imagery are mixed. One reason suggested to account for the inconsistent results has been the treatment of imagery as a unified construct despite the recent arguments of its multifaceted quality. In order to explore how visual imagery is related to gender, the present study differentiates between two different visual imagery construct; object and spatial imagery. In addition, it explores two other factors in characterizing gender differences: the type of the visual imagery measure (i.e., performance type vs. self-report measures) and academic training. One hundred and twenty undergraduates completed the Vividness of Visual Imagery (VVIQ), Mental Rotation Test (MRT) and Object-Spatial Imagery and Verbal Questionnaire (OSIVQ). Gender differences were observed in: (1) favoring females in the vividness measure as well as the object imagery questionnaire; (2) favoring males in the mental rotation performance and spatial imagery questionnaire. Academic training did not contribute as a factor. These results suggest that object and spatial imagery are differentially related to gender, and the type of the visual imagery measure does not seem to contribute to the story.

___

  • Addis, D.R., Wong, A.T., & Schacter, D.L. (2007). Remembering the past and imagining the future: Common and distinct neural substrates during event construction and elaboration. Neuropsychologia, 45, 1363–1377.
  • Aydın, C. (2018). The differential contributions of visual imagery constructs on autobiographical thinking. Memory, 26, 189-200.
  • Bartolomeo, P. (2002). The relationship between visual perception and visual mental imagery: A reappraisal of the neuropsychological evidence. Cortex, 38, 357-378.
  • Blazhenkova, O., Kozhevnikov, M., & Motes, M. A. (2006). Object-spatial imagery: A new self-report imagery questionnaire. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20, 239–263.
  • Blazhenkova, O. & Kozhevnikov, M. (2009). The new object-spatial-verbal cognitive style model: Theory and measurement. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 23 (5), 638-663.
  • Blough, P. M., & Slavin, L. K. (1987). Reaction time assessments of gender differences in visual-spatial performance. Perception & Psychophysics, 41(3), 276-281.
  • Borts, G., & Kossyln, S. M. (2010). Individual differences in spatial mental imagery. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 63, 2031-2050.
  • Brewer, W. F. (1986). What is autobiographical memory? In D. C. Rubin (Ed.), Autobiographical memory (pp. 25-49). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
  • Burton, L. J., & Fogarty, G. J. (2003). The factor structure of visual imagery and spatial abilities. Intelligence, 31, 289-318.
  • Butler, A.C., Rice, H.J., Wooldridge, C.L., & Rubin, D.C. (2016). Visual imagery in autobiographical memory: The role of repeated retrieval in shifting perspective. Consicousness and Cognition, 42, 237-253.
  • Campos, A. (2012). Measure of the ability to rotate mental images. Psicothema, 24, 431–434.
  • Campos, A. (2014). Gender differences in imagery. Personality and Individual Differences, 59, 107-11.
  • Chiao, J. Y., Harada, T., Komeda, H., Li, Z., Mano, Y., Saito, D., … & Iidaka, T. (2010). Dynamic cultural influences on neural representations of the self. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22(1), 1-11.
  • Collaer, M. L., & Hines, M. (1995). Human behavioral sex differences: A role for gonadal hormones during early development? Psychological Bulletin, 118, 55–107.
  • Coluccia, E., and Louse, G. (2004). Gender differences in spatial orientation: a review. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 24, 329–340.
  • Conway, M. A., & Pleydell-Pearce, C. W. (2000). The construction of autobiographical memories in the self-memory system. Psychological Review, 107, 261-288.
  • Courtney, S. M., Ungerleider, L. G., Keil, K., & Haxby, J. V. (1996). Object and spatial visual working memory activate separate neural systems in human cortex. Cerebral Cortex, 6, 39-49.
  • D’Argembeau, A., & Van der Linden, M. (2006). Individual differences in the phenomenology of mental time travel: The effect of vivid visual imagery and emotion regulation strategies. Consciousness and Cognition, 15, 342–350.
  • Dean, G.M. & Morris, P.E. (2003). The relationship between self-reports of imagery and spatial ability. British Journal of Psychology, 94, 245-273.
  • de Frias, C.M., Dixon, R.A., Strauss, E. (2006). Structure of four executive functioning tests in healthy older adults. Neuropsychology, 20, 206–214.
  • Ekstrom, R. B., French, J. W., Harman, H. H., & Dermen, D. (1976). Manual for kit of factor-referenced cognitive tests. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.
  • Farah, M. J., Hammond, K. M., Levine, D. N., & Calvanio, R. (1998). Visual and spatial mental imagery: Dissociable systems of representation. Cognitive Psychology, 20, 439-462.
  • Fields, A. W., and Shelton, A. L. (2006). Individual skill differences and large-scale environmental learning. Journal of Experimental. Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition. 32, 506–515.
  • Finke, R.A. (1989). Principles of mental imagery. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  • Gieser, C., Lehmann, W., Eid, M. (2008). A note on sex differences in mental rotation in different age groups. Intelligence, 36, 556-563.
  • Greenberg, D. L., & Knowlton, B. J. (2014). The role of visual imagery in autobiographical memory. Memory & Cognition, 42, 922–934.
  • Herlitz, A., & Rehnman, A. J. (2008). Sex differences in episodic memory. Current Directions in Psychology, 17, 52-56.
  • Kanwisher N. and Wojciulik E. (2000) Visual Attention: Insights from Brain Imaging. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 1, 91-100.
  • Kimura, D. & Harshman, R.A. (1984). Sex differences in brain organization for verbal and non-verbal functions. Progressive Brain Research, 61, 423-461.
  • Kosslyn, S. M. (1994). Image and brain: The resolution of the imagery debate. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  • Kosslyn, S. M., Brunn, J. L., Cave, K. R., & Wallach, R. W. (1984). Individual differences in mental imagery abilities: A computational analysis. Cognition, 18, 195–243.
  • Kosslyn, S. M., Thompson, W. L., Sukel, K. E., & Alpert, N. M. (2005). Two types of image generation: Evidence from PET. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 5, 41–53.
  • Kosslyn, S. M., Thompson, W. L., & Ganis, G. (2006). The case for mental imagery. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Kozhevnikov, M., Hegarty, M., & Mayer, R. E. (2002). Revising the visualizer/verbalizer dimension: evidence for two types of visualizers. Cognition & instruction, 20, 47–77.
  • Kozhevnikov, M., Kosslyn, S., & Shephard, J. (2005). Spatial versus object visualizers: A new characterization of visual cognitive style. Memory & Cognition, 33, 710-726.
  • Kozhevnikov, M., Blazhenkova, O., & Becker, M. (2010). Trade-off in object versus spatial visualization abilities: Restriction in the development of visual-processing resources. Psychological Bulletin & Review, 7, 29-35.
  • Lambert, S., Sampaio, E., Mauss, Y., & Scheiber, C. (2004). Blindness and brain plasticity: Contribution of mental imagery? An fMRI study. Cognitive Brain Research, 20, 1-11.
  • Lawton, C. A. (2010). Gender, spatial abilities, and wayfinding. In J. C. Chrisler & D. R. McCreary (Eds.), Handbook of gender research in psychology, Vol. 1. Gender research in general and experimental psychology (pp. 317-341). New York, NY, US: Springer Science + Business Media.
  • Lindberg, S.M., Hyde, J.S., Petersen, J.L. (2010). New trends in gender and mathematics performance. A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 136, 103-127. Logie, R.H. (2003). Spatial and visual working memory: a mental workspace. In D.E. Irwin, B.H. Ross (Eds.) The Psychology of Learning and Motivation: Cognitive Vision (pp. 37-78). New York: Academic Press.
  • Lawton, C. A. (2010). Gender, spatial abilities, and wayfinding. Handbook of gender research in psychology (pp. 317-341): Springer.
  • Luzzatti, C., Vecchi, T., Agazzi, D., Cesa-Bianchi, M., &Vergani, C. (1998). A neurological dissociation between preserved visual and impaired spatial processing in mental imagery. Cortex, 34, 461–469
  • Marks, D. F. (1973). Visual imagery differences in the recall of pictures. British Journal of Psychology, 64, 17–24.
  • Mayer R. E., & Massa L. J. (2003). Three facets of visual and verbal learners: Cognitive ability, cognitive style, and learning preference. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95, 833–846.
  • McKelvie, S. J. (1995). The VVIQ as a psychometric test of individual differences in visual imagery vividness: A critical quantitative review and plea for direction. Journal of Mental Imagery, 19, 1–106.
  • Mellet, E., Petit, L., Mazoyer, B., Denis, M., & Tzourio, N. (1998). Reopening the mental imagery debate: Lessons from functional anatomy. Neuroimage, 8, 129-139.
  • Moe, A., (2009). Are males always better than females in mental rotation? Exploring a gender belief explanation. Learning and Individual Differences, 19, 21-27.
  • Moe, A., (2012). Gender difference does not mean genetic difference: Externalizing improves performance in mental rotation. Learning and Individual differences, 22, 20-24.
  • Moe, A., & Pazzaglia, F., (2006). Following the instructions! Effects of gender beliefs in mental rotation. Learning and Individual differences, 16, 369-377.
  • Montello, D. R., and Pick, H. L. (1993). Integrating knowledge of vertically aligned large-scale spaces. Environmental. Behavior, 25, 457–484.
  • Nigro, G., & Neisser, U. (1983). Point of view in personal memories. Cognitive Psychology, 15, 467-482.
  • Nuhoğlu, P., & Akkoyunlu, B. (2012). The adaptation of the Object-Spatial Iamgery and Verbal Questionnaire into Turkish. Hacettepe University Journal of Education, 42, 299-309.
  • Nuhoğlu Kibar, P. & Akkoyunlu, B. (2016). University students’ visual cognitive styles with respect to majors and years. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education, 12, 321-333.
  • Ortner, T. M., & Sieverding, M. (2008). Where Are the Gender Differences Male Priming Boosts Spatial Skills in Women. Sex Roles, 59, 274-281.
  • Paivio, A. (1971). Imagery and verbal processes. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
  • Park, D. C., & Huang, C.-M. (2010). Culture Wires the Brain: A Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5, 391–400.
  • Parsons, T. D., Larson, P., Kratz, K., Thiebaux, M., Bluestein, B., Buckwalter, J. G., et al. (2004). Sex differences in mental rotation and spatial rotation in a virtual environment. Neuropsychologia, 42, 555–562.
  • Pearson, J., Naselaris, T., Holmes, E.A. & Kossyln, S.M. (2015). Mental imagery: Functional mechanisms and clinical applications. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 19, 590-602.
  • Pearson, J., & Kosslyn, S.M. (2015). The heterogeneity of mental representation: Ending the imagery debate, PNAS, 112, 10089-10092.
  • Poltrock, S. E. and Brown, P. (1984). Individual differences in visual imagery and spatial ability. Intelligence, 93–138.
  • Reeder, R.R. (2017). Individual differences shape the content of visual representations. Vision Research, 141, 266-281.
  • Sheldon, S., & Levine, B. (2013). Same as it ever was: Vividness modulates the similarities and differences between the neural networks that support retrieving remote and recent autobiographical memories. Neuroimage, 83, 880–891.
  • Sheldon, S., Amaral, R., & Levine, B. (2016). Individual differences in visual imagery determine how event information is remembered. Memory, 1-10.
  • Steele, C. M., & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 797-811.
  • Thurstone, L. L., & Thurstone, T. G. (2002). Aptitudes mentales primarias [primary mental abilities]. Madrid: TEA Ediciones (original work published 1962).
  • Ungerleider, L. G., & Mishkin, M. (1982). Two cortical visual systems. In D. J. Ingle, M. A. Goodale, & R. J. W. Mansfield (Eds.), Analysis of visual behavior (pp. 549-586). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  • Vandenberg, S. G., & Kuse, A. R. (1978). Mental Rotations, a group test of three-dimensional spatial visualization. Perceptual & Motor Skills, 47, 599–604.
  • Vannucci, M., & Mazzoni, G. (2009). Individual differences in object and spatial imagery: Personality correlates. Personality and Individual Differences, 46, 402–405.
  • Verde P., Piccardi L., Bianchini F., Trivelloni P., Guariglia C., Tomao E. (2013). Gender effects on mental rotation in pilots vs. nonpilots. Aviat. Space Environ. Med., 84, 726–729.
  • Wang, Q. (2013). Gender and emotion in everyday event memory. Memory, 21, 503-511.
  • Winlove, C., Milton, F., Ranson, J., Fulford, J., MacKisack, M., Macpherson, F., et al. (2018). The neural correlates of visual imagery: A co-ordinate-based meta-analysis. Cortex, 105, 4e25.
  • Zeman, A., Dewar, M., & DellaSala, S. (2015). Lives without imagery e congenital aphantasia. Cortex, 73, 378e380.