Gender Differences in Apparent Motion Perception

Abstract
Distance disparity is a strong cue to element correspondence in apparent motion. Using a 2-AFC paradigm we have previously shown that shape similarity also plays a role. We now demonstrate a small gender difference in these effects: women are more sensitive to distance disparity, whereas men are more sensitive to differences in shape. Furthermore, in the competing presence of a shape cue, women's sensitivity to distance decreases while men's sensitivity is unaffected. These observations may be related to putative gender differences in the ‘form’ and ‘motion—spatial relations’ cortical pathways.