Abstract
The present study was designed to elucidate sex-related differences in two basic auditory and one basic visual aspect of sensory
functioning, namely sensory discrimination of pitch, loudness, and brightness. Although these three aspects of sensory functioning
are of vital importance in everyday life, little is known about whether men and women differ from each other in these sensory
functions. Participants were 100 male and 100 female volunteers ranging in age from 18 to 30 years. Since sensory sensitivity
may be positively related to individual levels of intelligence and musical experience, measures of psychometric intelligence
and musical background were also obtained. Reliably better performance for men compared to women was found for pitch and loudness,
but not for brightness discrimination. Furthermore, performance on loudness discrimination was positively related to psychometric
intelligence, while pitch discrimination was positively related to both psychometric intelligence and levels of musical training.
Additional regression analyses revealed that each of three predictor variables (sex, psychometric intelligence, and musical
training) accounted for a statistically significant portion of unique variance in pitch discrimination. With regard to loudness
discrimination, regression analysis yielded a statistically significant portion of unique variance for sex as a predictor
variable, whereas psychometric intelligence just failed to reach statistical significance. The potential influence of sex
hormones on sex-related differences in sensory functions is discussed.
functioning, namely sensory discrimination of pitch, loudness, and brightness. Although these three aspects of sensory functioning
are of vital importance in everyday life, little is known about whether men and women differ from each other in these sensory
functions. Participants were 100 male and 100 female volunteers ranging in age from 18 to 30 years. Since sensory sensitivity
may be positively related to individual levels of intelligence and musical experience, measures of psychometric intelligence
and musical background were also obtained. Reliably better performance for men compared to women was found for pitch and loudness,
but not for brightness discrimination. Furthermore, performance on loudness discrimination was positively related to psychometric
intelligence, while pitch discrimination was positively related to both psychometric intelligence and levels of musical training.
Additional regression analyses revealed that each of three predictor variables (sex, psychometric intelligence, and musical
training) accounted for a statistically significant portion of unique variance in pitch discrimination. With regard to loudness
discrimination, regression analysis yielded a statistically significant portion of unique variance for sex as a predictor
variable, whereas psychometric intelligence just failed to reach statistical significance. The potential influence of sex
hormones on sex-related differences in sensory functions is discussed.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Category Original Paper
- Pages 1-8
- DOI 10.1007/s10508-011-9880-8
- Authors
- Thomas H. Rammsayer, Department of Psychology, University of Bern, Muesmattstrasse 45, 3000 Bern 9, Switzerland
- Stefan J. Troche, Department of Psychology, University of Bern, Muesmattstrasse 45, 3000 Bern 9, Switzerland
- Journal Archives of Sexual Behavior
- Online ISSN 1573-2800
- Print ISSN 0004-0002