Sex differences in eye movements and neural oscillations during mental rotation in virtual reality
Virtual reality (VR) has been a promising tool for developing visuospatial tasks. Among visuospatial tasks, mental rotation tasks are widely used in the assessment of visuospatial ability. Males have a distinct advantage in mental rotation ability compared to females, yet it is generally produced by...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Medicine in Novel Technology and Devices |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590093523000280 |
| _version_ | 1797790863482421248 |
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| author | Zhili Tang Xiaoyu Liu Hongqiang Huo Min Tang Xiaofeng Qiao Duo Chen Ying Dong Linyuan Fan Jinghui Wang Xin Du Jieyi Guo Yubo Fan |
| author_facet | Zhili Tang Xiaoyu Liu Hongqiang Huo Min Tang Xiaofeng Qiao Duo Chen Ying Dong Linyuan Fan Jinghui Wang Xin Du Jieyi Guo Yubo Fan |
| author_sort | Zhili Tang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Virtual reality (VR) has been a promising tool for developing visuospatial tasks. Among visuospatial tasks, mental rotation tasks are widely used in the assessment of visuospatial ability. Males have a distinct advantage in mental rotation ability compared to females, yet it is generally produced by investigations based on two-dimensional (2D) images on a computer screen. Sex differences in mental rotation tasks with three-dimensional (3D) objects in VR were not fully investigated. It is unclear whether the male's advantages in 2D mental rotation tasks are weakened in 3D tasks. The aim of this study was to provide new insights into the understanding of sex differences in mental rotation tasks presented in VR. Here, we developed a VR mental rotation task (VR-MRT) using 3D objects presented by a head-mounted display (HMD) and used VR-based eye tracking and electroencephalography (EEG) to examine eye movements and neural oscillations for males and females. Our results showed that females preferred a piecemeal strategy compared to males, suggesting a significant sex difference in visual strategy. More importantly, we found no significant sex differences in alpha-band and beta-band oscillations related to rotation processes of VR-MRT. These findings indicated that sex differences in the VR-MRT were mainly attributed to the selection of visual strategy rather than the rotation processes. The study helps to comprehensively understand the dominant factors contributing to the sex differences in the VR-MRT. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T02:10:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ea850ec966d1483c83de9e32c9acffe1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2590-0935 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T02:10:35Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Medicine in Novel Technology and Devices |
| spelling | doaj.art-ea850ec966d1483c83de9e32c9acffe12023-07-01T04:35:36ZengElsevierMedicine in Novel Technology and Devices2590-09352023-06-0118100233Sex differences in eye movements and neural oscillations during mental rotation in virtual realityZhili Tang0Xiaoyu Liu1Hongqiang Huo2Min Tang3Xiaofeng Qiao4Duo Chen5Ying Dong6Linyuan Fan7Jinghui Wang8Xin Du9Jieyi Guo10Yubo Fan11Key Laboratory of Biomechanics and Mechanobiology (Beihang University), Ministry of Education, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100083, ChinaKey Laboratory of Biomechanics and Mechanobiology (Beihang University), Ministry of Education, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100083, China; State Key Laboratory of Virtual Reality Technology and Systems, Beihang University, Beijing, 100083, China; Corresponding author. School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, No. 37 XueYuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100083, China.Key Laboratory of Biomechanics and Mechanobiology (Beihang University), Ministry of Education, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100083, ChinaKey Laboratory of Biomechanics and Mechanobiology (Beihang University), Ministry of Education, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100083, ChinaKey Laboratory of Biomechanics and Mechanobiology (Beihang University), Ministry of Education, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100083, ChinaKey Laboratory of Biomechanics and Mechanobiology (Beihang University), Ministry of Education, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100083, ChinaKey Laboratory of Biomechanics and Mechanobiology (Beihang University), Ministry of Education, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100083, ChinaKey Laboratory of Biomechanics and Mechanobiology (Beihang University), Ministry of Education, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100083, ChinaKey Laboratory of Biomechanics and Mechanobiology (Beihang University), Ministry of Education, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100083, ChinaKey Laboratory of Biomechanics and Mechanobiology (Beihang University), Ministry of Education, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100083, ChinaKey Laboratory of Biomechanics and Mechanobiology (Beihang University), Ministry of Education, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100083, ChinaKey Laboratory of Biomechanics and Mechanobiology (Beihang University), Ministry of Education, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100083, China; School of Engineering Medicine, Beihang University, Beijing, 100083, China; State Key Laboratory of Virtual Reality Technology and Systems, Beihang University, Beijing, 100083, China; Corresponding author. School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, No. 37 XueYuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100083, China.Virtual reality (VR) has been a promising tool for developing visuospatial tasks. Among visuospatial tasks, mental rotation tasks are widely used in the assessment of visuospatial ability. Males have a distinct advantage in mental rotation ability compared to females, yet it is generally produced by investigations based on two-dimensional (2D) images on a computer screen. Sex differences in mental rotation tasks with three-dimensional (3D) objects in VR were not fully investigated. It is unclear whether the male's advantages in 2D mental rotation tasks are weakened in 3D tasks. The aim of this study was to provide new insights into the understanding of sex differences in mental rotation tasks presented in VR. Here, we developed a VR mental rotation task (VR-MRT) using 3D objects presented by a head-mounted display (HMD) and used VR-based eye tracking and electroencephalography (EEG) to examine eye movements and neural oscillations for males and females. Our results showed that females preferred a piecemeal strategy compared to males, suggesting a significant sex difference in visual strategy. More importantly, we found no significant sex differences in alpha-band and beta-band oscillations related to rotation processes of VR-MRT. These findings indicated that sex differences in the VR-MRT were mainly attributed to the selection of visual strategy rather than the rotation processes. The study helps to comprehensively understand the dominant factors contributing to the sex differences in the VR-MRT.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590093523000280Eye movementsSex differencesMental rotationVirtual realityAlpha oscillations |
| spellingShingle | Zhili Tang Xiaoyu Liu Hongqiang Huo Min Tang Xiaofeng Qiao Duo Chen Ying Dong Linyuan Fan Jinghui Wang Xin Du Jieyi Guo Yubo Fan Sex differences in eye movements and neural oscillations during mental rotation in virtual reality Medicine in Novel Technology and Devices Eye movements Sex differences Mental rotation Virtual reality Alpha oscillations |
| title | Sex differences in eye movements and neural oscillations during mental rotation in virtual reality |
| title_full | Sex differences in eye movements and neural oscillations during mental rotation in virtual reality |
| title_fullStr | Sex differences in eye movements and neural oscillations during mental rotation in virtual reality |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sex differences in eye movements and neural oscillations during mental rotation in virtual reality |
| title_short | Sex differences in eye movements and neural oscillations during mental rotation in virtual reality |
| title_sort | sex differences in eye movements and neural oscillations during mental rotation in virtual reality |
| topic | Eye movements Sex differences Mental rotation Virtual reality Alpha oscillations |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590093523000280 |
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