The Effects of Stimulus Context on Paper-and-Pencil Spatial Task Performance

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Abstract
Because the ecological validity of many water-level tasks used to test the perception and concept of horizontality has been questioned, the present study assessed performance on a task embedded in a familiar context—a person drinking a liquid from a glass. Two water-level tasks were performed by 104 college students. Sex differences were replicated: Men performed more accurately than women on both tasks. Unexpectedly, men did not perform more accurately and women performed less accurately on the ecologically valid task than on the standard water-level task. Results are discussed with reference to the task demands of paper-and-pencil spatial tasks.