Do men and women really see the world differently?

Many studies and research has been conducted in recent years around the notion that men and women see the world differently. There has been some controversy as to whether there are in fact differences in human color vision that is sex-related. Work being done at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom  is attempting to show that there are sex- related differences in vision, specifically if color vision in the peripheral visual field is more susceptible to perceptual shifts. The research for such an experiment is carried out by examining hue and saturation shifts in males and females. This study concludes that there is a significant difference in perceived saturation of stimuli in certain color regions among males and females, but apart from this the result, like many other studies, delivered some conflicting and ambiguous results when it comes to sex-related differences specifically in color vision. The researchers concluded there were some sex-related differences in color vision near the peripheral retina in which females had an advantage over males.

Directly related to this line of research are the differences in vision among males and females in relation to child development. Eliot discusses in her book the sex differences in vision between males and females. She explains how males have an advantage over females in vision, as males tend to have sharper vision in detecting motion. She provides evidence for this claim, specifically how males, regardless of age, were less likely to use corrective lenses than their female counterparts and also that males retain their distance acuity throughout life longer than females. However, Eliot also explains how boys do not have better vision than girls because girls develop stereovision earlier than boys. This means the though males have an advantage in vision and detecting motion, females actually outperform males in this aspect until the age of nine. The author makes the case that males are not innately more ‘visual’ than females and suggests that other factors, perhaps hormones or genes, are what influence the visual system. Eliot concludes that stereovision, which is apparently responsible for differences in vision between males and females, is highly influenced by childhood interests and experiences which shape the type of vision that we develop.

Overall, the research in this field is currently being developed and further expanded in order to answer more questions about vision and the differences between male and female visual systems. The findings are and will help in better understanding the intricacies of our visual system and how it, and possibly other senses, is developed in adolescence. The factors involved will help the scientific community better comprehend the development and capacities of human senses and what role they play in individuals’ lives (as well as helping to treat known afflictions to the senses that affect an individual’s development).

Sources:

http://www.journalofvision.org/content/12/1/18.full

Eliot, Lise. (2009). Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow into Troublesome Gaps - and What We Can Do About It. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.