Nikki B_Conference

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.