Gender Differences in Sustained Attentional Control Relate to Gender Inequality across Countries.
Sustained attentional control is critical for everyday tasks and success in school and employment. Understanding gender differences in sustained attentional control, and their potential sources, is an important goal of psychology and neuroscience and of great relevance to society. We used a large web-based sample (n = 21,484, from testmybrain.org) to examine gender differences in sustained attentional control. Our sample included participants from 41 countries, allowing us to examine how gender differences in each country relate to national indices of gender equality. We found significant gender differences in certain aspects of sustained attentional control. Using indices of gender equality, we found that overall sustained attentional control performance was lower in countries with less equality and that there were greater gender differences in performance in countries with less equality. These findings suggest that creating sociocultural conditions which value women and men equally can improve a component of sustained attention and reduce gender disparities in cognition.
Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC), VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.|Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Elizabeth
E
Riley
Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC), VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Hidefusa
H
Okabe
Center for Human Genetic Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Laura
L
Germine
Department of Psychology, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Jeremy
J
Wilmer
Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC), VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.|Department of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Michael
M
Esterman
Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC), VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.|Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
Joseph
J
DeGutis
D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D004651:Employment / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult