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Individual differences in visualization and childhood play preferences.

ABSTRACT: Our research explored the structure of childhood visual play preferences, and examined different types of visual play in relation to individual differences in visualization and aptitudes in academic specializations requiring visualization skills. Principal component analysis dissociated visual-object play (e.g., exploring drawing media or decorative crafts) from visual-spatial play (e.g., assembling and disassembling mechanisms or playing with construction toys) preferences. Moreover, visual play preferences were dissociated from verbal play preferences (e.g., vocabulary games or making up stories). The structure of visual play preferences was consistent with object and spatial dimensions of individual differences in visualization. Visual-object and visual-spatial dimensions of play preferences were differentially related to measures of object visualization (processing pictorial appearances in terms of shape, texture, and color) versus spatial visualization (processing spatial relationships and spatial manipulations), as well as to aptitudes in artistic versus scientific domains. Furthermore, our research sheds new light on sex differences in play behavior: Previous studies commonly associated gender-specific play with visual versus verbal-social processing; our research demonstrated sex differences in play preferences across the two dimensions of visual play, where females preferred visual-object and males preferred visual-spatial play. Moreover, we found the object vs. spatial structure of visual play preferences was largely the same in both sexes, suggesting that differences in visual play preferences cannot be reduced to sex differences. Also, our questionnaire assessing visual-object, visual-spatial and verbal play preferences, developed for research purposes, demonstrated good reliability. Its two scales, assessing visual-object and visual-spatial play preferences, discriminatively correlated with assessments of individual differences in object and spatial visualization, respectively. This research creates a basis for further creation of comprehensive measures of visual play preferences, and should stimulate future studies examining visual play preferences and how they may create developmental opportunities for skills and preferences lasting into adulthood.

SUBMITTER: Blazhenkova O

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7292923 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Individual differences in visualization and childhood play preferences.

Blazhenkova Olesya O Booth Robert W RW

Heliyon 20200610 6

Our research explored the structure of childhood visual play preferences, and examined different types of visual play in relation to individual differences in visualization and aptitudes in academic specializations requiring visualization skills. Principal component analysis dissociated visual-object play (e.g., exploring drawing media or decorative crafts) from visual-spatial play (e.g., assembling and disassembling mechanisms or playing with construction toys) preferences. Moreover, visual pla ...[more]

PMID: 32551373

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Project description:IntroductionCooperation and competition are common in social interactions. It is not clear how individual differences in personality may predict performance strategies under these two contexts. We evaluated whether instructions to play cooperatively and competitively would differentially affect dyads playing a Pong video game. We hypothesized that instructions to play cooperatively would result in lower overall points scored and differences in paddle control kinematics relative to when participants were instructed to play competitively. We also predicted that higher scores in prosociality and Sportspersonship would be related to better performance during cooperative than competitive conditions.MethodsPairs of participants played a Pong video game under cooperative and competitive instructions. During competitive trials, participants were instructed to score more points against one another to win the game. During the cooperative trials, participants were instructed to work together to score as few points against one another as possible. After game play, each participant completed surveys so we could measure their trait prosociality and Sportspersonship.ResultsCondition was a significant predictor of where along the paddle participants hit the ball, which controlled ball exit angles. Specifically, during cooperation participants concentrated ball contacts on the paddle towards the center to produce more consistent rebound angles. We found a significant correlation of Sex and the average points scored by participants during cooperative games, competitive games, and across all trials. Sex was also significantly correlated with paddle kinematics during cooperative games. The overall scores on the prosociality and Sportspersonship surveys were not significantly correlated with the performance outcomes in cooperative and competitive games. The dimension of prosociality assessing empathic concern was significantly correlated with performance outcomes during cooperative video game play.DiscussionNo Sportspersonship survey score was able to predict cooperative or competitive game performance, suggesting that Sportspersonship personality assessments are not reliable predictors of cooperative or competitive behaviors translated to a virtual game setting. Survey items and dimensions probing broader empathic concern may be more effective predictors of cooperative and competitive performance during interactive video game play. Further testing is encouraged to assess the efficacy of prosocial personality traits as predictors of cooperative and competitive video game behavior.

Project description:BackgroundAs interest in evaluating sex differences in nonhuman animals grows, the finding that male and female monkeys have toy preferences that differ, and that parallel those documented in human children, has garnered significant attention and is leveraged as an argument in favor of a biological contribution for human sex differences. To date, however, only two studies have investigated sex differences in monkeys' toy preferences, both documenting that males prefer toys considered to be "masculine" (such as vehicles) and females prefer toys considered to be "feminine" (such as dolls). Monkeys in these studies were tested in their social groups, making it hard to determine if the sex differences reported reflect actual individual preferences or result from social dynamics present at the time of testing.MethodHere, we assessed the preferences of 14 rhesus macaques (N = 7 males; N = 7 females) who were singly tested in a choice test with a variety of toys characterized as masculine (hard non-zoomorphic wheeled toys), feminine (zoomorphic soft toys), neutral (hard non-zoomorphic toys) and ambiguous (zoomorphic or plush vehicles) based on criteria from previous studies.ResultsMales and females showed similar preferences for neutral and "masculine" toys and preferred them (i.e., were more likely to interact with them) to "feminine" and sex-ambiguous toys. When they interacted with the toys, both males and females interacted more with neutral than with "masculine" toys. Females, but not males, interacted more with neutral and "masculine" toys than with "feminine" toys. The highest frequency of interaction for any single toy for the male monkeys was with the doll-standing is stark contrast to previous findings.ConclusionsOur results contrast greatly with the previous study in rhesus monkeys, as well as findings in human children, suggesting that the previously documented sex differences are likely context dependent, and question the existence of a strong biological basis to sex differences in toy preferences.

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Individual differences in visualization and childhood play preferences.

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Individual differences in visualization and childhood play preferences.

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