On gender differences in mental rotation processing speed

• We examined gender differences in mental rotation processing speed.
• Speed and ability in two mental rotation tasks were modeled.
• No gender differences in the speed parameters were found.
• A negative correlation between speed and ability was observed in both tasks.

There is a wide consensus in the literature that gender differences can be observed in tasks measuring mental rotation ability. A possible explanation of this finding is the presence of gender differences in the processing speed of mental rotation tasks. In two studies, we investigated the dimensionality and the presence of gender differences in mental rotation processing speed in two mental rotation tasks. By applying a joint modeling approach for responses and response times, we found that, in both tasks, mental rotation ability and mental rotation processing speed can be regarded as unidimensional constructs. We replicated previous findings that gender differences in mental rotation ability can be observed in both tasks, although we could not find gender differences in mental rotation processing speed. Our results thus indicate that the observed gender differences in mental rotation ability cannot be explained by gender differences in mental rotation processing speed.