A small gender difference in visualisation favouring boys exists across adolescence and is robust across measurement instruments¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesis r1 · q3
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Single-paper meta-analysis of visualisation performance reveals a small gender difference favouring boys that is robust across instruments. → Buckley 2026

Evidence¶

Buckley 2026¶

Buckley, J., Sorby, S., Duffy, G., Maresch, G., & Power, J. (2026). Gender Differences in Mental Rotation and Visualisation Across Adolescence: Large Scale Evidence from the United States, Ireland, and Austria with Single-Paper Meta-Analyses. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-026-10149-0

q3 · i? · quant-synthesis · r1

Single-paper meta-analysis of visualisation measured by the DAT:SR (US and Ireland) and RIF platform visualisation task groups (Austria) across adolescence. The analysis reveals a "small" difference favouring boys; the printed effect size value is not in the available text.

"Single-paper meta-analyses, for both mental-rotation and visualisation tasks, reveal medium and small gender differences respectively favouring boys, with these gender differences already apparent from the beginning of adolescence."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Gender — predictor: outcomes differ by group: a gap reflecting circumstances and treatment, not a cause

Related Claims¶

• Age moderates gender differences in both mental rotation and visualisation, with gaps continuing to grow during adolescence — related
• Instrument type moderated the mental rotation gender-difference effect size but not the visualisation effect size — related
• A medium gender difference in mental rotation favouring boys exists across adolescence and is already apparent at the beginning of adolescence — related
• Structural equation models of RIF platform data support mental rotation and visualisation task groups as two discrete factors — related