Gender Differences in Time Estimation

Abstract

Sex differences in a reproduction task were investigated using an auditory tone that played for a set interval. Results of this study were compared to Rammsayer’s (1998) research that indicated females were significantly less accurate than males when estimating durations. The same level of inaccuracy could not be replicated in this study. Performance for females and males in this experiment was highly accurate with very low absolute error percentages. To further understand the variability in the sex difference literature, two other measures implicated in temporal perception were manipulated. These were levels of processing demand and the impact of counting. The first manipulation was to increase the processing demand of a secondary, nontemporal task across three conditions. In the intermediate level of processing condition, a sex difference appeared. No sex difference was found in the easiest condition, or the third and most difficult condition, although results indicated a reversal in accuracy for females and males in the latter. The second manipulation was to investigate the possible effect that counting has on performance in a temporal reproduction task. In the second condition of the counting experiments, the sex difference found earlier was not replicated. When told to count, no sex difference was found, but participants were accurate. When an array count impeded their ability to count, no sex difference was evident. The Scalar Expectancy Theory of timing and the Attentional Gate model are discussed in light of these results.