nikki b_conference
TRANSCRIPT
GENDER VS. TASKS
Nikki Barot
September 2016
MSc. Foundations of Clinical Neuropsychology
WHAT WAS THE STUDY ABOUT?
The current study looked at the how both genders differ on their performance on both the socially cued (Automatic Imitation task)
and the non-socially cued (Eriksen Flanker task).
Both men and women completed Automatic Imitation and Flanker task for both congruent and incongruent conditions.
WHY WAS THE STUDY CONDUCTED?
Women showed higher level of automatic imitation than men, on socially cued task.
Women score high on social cognitive as compared to men.
Men have superior inhibition control and cognitive skills, than women.
HOW WAS THE STUDY CONDUCTED?
Participants
Overall sample size: 149 participants, average age was 20.7 years (SD = 4.6)
Male: 34 participants, average age 21.7 years (SD = 7)
Female: 117 participants, average age 20.5 years old (SD = 3.6)
HOW WAS THE STUDY CONDUCTED?
Automatic Imitation task Eriksen Flanker task
WHAT DID WE FIND?
Analysis:
Compare overall sample on tasks (flanker vs. automatic imitation)
Compare female participant’s performance on both the tasks
Compare male participant’s performance on both the tasks
Compare male vs. female on Flanker task
Compare male vs. female on automatic imitation task
WHAT DID WE FIND?
300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 8000
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200Flanker Linear (Flanker) Imitation Linear (Imitation)
Mean RT (ms)
Con
gru
ency
Eff
ect
(ms)
Overall sample was faster on Flanker task (M = 444ms, SD = 84,
SEM = 6.8), than on Automatic imitation task (M = 466ms, SD = 71, SEM = 5.8).
The Congruency effect on the Flanker task was great than on the automatic imitation task.
Flanker: (M = 85ms, SD = 62)
Imitation: (M = 32ms, SD = 32)
WHAT DID WE FIND?
FEMALE PARTICIPANTS
Congruent Incongruent350
370
390
410
430
450
470
490
510
Flanker
ConditionR
eact
ion
tim
e (m
s)
(M = 440ms, SD = 90)
Congruent Incongruent430
440
450
460
470
480
490Imitation
Condition
Rea
ctio
n ti
me
(ms)
(M = 466ms, SD = 74)
FEMALE PARTICIPANTS
FEMALE PARTICIPANTS
300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 8000
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
CE_Flanker Vs. Imitation
Flanker Linear (Flanker) Imitation Linear (Imitation)
Mean RT (ms)
COng
ruen
cy E
ffec
t (m
s)
Female participants showed a higher congruency effect on Flanker, than on imitation.
On imitation task, the congruency effect was greater at slower RT, and
smaller at faster RT.
No correlation between the performance on both the tasks.
MALE PARTICIPANTS
Automatic imitation (M = 467ms, SD = 59) Flanker (M = 461ms, SD = 55)
Congruent Incongruent350
370
390
410
430
450
470
490
510
530
Condition
Rea
ctio
n ti
me
(ms)
Congruent Incongruent435
440
445
450
455
460
465
470
475
480
485
Condition
Rea
ctio
n ti
me
(ms)
MALE PARTICIPANTS
MALE PARTICIPANTS
350 400 450 500 550 600 650 7000
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
Flanker Linear (Flanker) Imitation Linear (Imitation)
Mean RT (ms)
Cong
ruen
cy E
ffec
t (m
s)
The congruency effect for men was greater on automatic imitation task, than on flanker task.
On imitation task, the congruency effect was greater at slower RT, and smaller at faster RT.
There was no correlation between the performance on both the tasks.
MALE VS. FEMALE ON TASKS
Flanker: avg. difference 25ms Imitation: avg. difference 1ms
Imitation_Male Imitation_Female430
440
450
460
470
480
GenderR
eact
ion
tim
e (m
s)
Flanker_Male Flanker_Female425
430
435
440
445
450
455
460
465
Gender
Rea
ctio
n ti
me
(ms)
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
Both men and women show equal level of automatic imitation on both the flanker and the imitation task.
Based on this study, men do not have better response inhibition and social cognitive skills, as compared to women.
There might some other factor working towards the differences and similarity in performance on these tasks.
LIMITATIONS/ FUTURE DIRECTION
Uneven participant gender ratio
Replace the hand stimulus in the current automatic imitation task with gaze cueing, while keeping the flanker task.
