Studies indirectly related to (prenatal) testosterone

Dominant (high testosterone?) personalities get paid more

"Dominant, assertive women, who clearly express their expectations and do not retreat from their demands, are compensated better than their more accommodating female peers. According to the researchers, the same goes for dominant men versus their more conciliatory male counterparts [...]."

('Nice' women earn less than their more assertive counterparts, ScienceDaily, nov.21st 2016)

High testosterone type men more likely to have psychological problems

"Men who see themselves as playboys or as having power over women are more likely to have psychological problems than men who conform less to traditionally masculine norms [...].
Specifically, they focused on three broad types of mental health outcomes: negative mental health (e.g., depression), positive mental health (e.g., life satisfaction), and psychological help seeking (e.g., seeking counseling services). [...]
While overall, conforming to masculine norms was associated with negative mental health outcomes in subjects, the researchers found the association to be most consistent for these three norms -- self-reliance, pursuit of playboy behavior, and power over women."

(Sexism may be harmful to men's mental health, ScienceDaily, nov.21 2016)

Trauma changes brain differently in boys than in girls

"Within [the insula's anterior circular sulcus], boys with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) symptoms demonstrated larger volume and surface area than control boys, while girls with PTSD symptoms demonstrated smaller volume and surface area than control girls."

(Klabunde, Megan, et al. "The moderating effects of sex on insula subdivision structure in youth with posttraumatic stress symptoms." Depression and Anxiety (2016).)

Dominance (high testosterone?) related to psychopathology, mania and narcissism

"Extensive research suggests that externalizing disorders, mania-proneness, and narcissistic traits are related to heightened dominance motivation and behaviors. Mania and narcissistic traits also appear related to inflated self-perceptions of power. Anxiety and depression are related to subordination and submissiveness, as well as a desire to avoid subordination."

(Johnson, Sheri L., Liane J. Leedom, and Luma Muhtadie. "The dominance behavioral system and psychopathology: evidence from self-report, observational, and biological studies." Psychological bulletin 138.4 (2012): 692.)

"[N]arcissism is positively associated with dominance (Bradlee & Emmons, 1992; Emmons, 1987; Raskin & Terry, 1988)."

(Grijalva, Emily, and Peter D. Harms. "Narcissism: An integrative synthesis and dominance complementarity model." The Academy of Management Perspectives 28.2 (2014): 108-127.)

Higher rates of homosexuality, bisexuality and asexuality among people with autism

"In the group with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), 69.7% of the sample reported being non-heterosexual, while in the TD (Typically Developing) group, 30.3% reported being non-heterosexual. The group with ASD reported higher rates of homosexuality, bisexuality and asexuality, but lower rates of heterosexuality. The results support the impression that non-heterosexuality is more prevalent in the autistic population."

(George, R., and M. A. Stokes. "Sexual Orientation in Autism Spectrum Disorder." Autism Research.)

Estrogens from contraceptive pill implicated in agressive behavior

"Ethinylestradiol (EE2) is a widely produced, powerful synthetic estrogen that is widespread in the environment mainly because is a component of the contraceptive pill. In addition, fetuses may be exposed to EE2 when pregnancy is undetected during contraceptive treatment. To understand whether exposure to EE2 during gestation or lactation affects social play, we exposed 72 female Sprague-Dawley rats to EE2 or vehicle either during gestation (gestation day (GD) 5 through GD 20) or during lactation (from postnatal day (PND) 1 through PND 21). Two doses of EE2 were used to treat the dams: a lower dose in the range of possible environmental exposure (4 ng/kg/day) and a higher dose equivalent to that received during contraceptive treatment (400 ng/kg/day). Behavioral testing was carried out between PND 40 and 45. A principal component analysis of frequencies of behavioral items observed during play sessions identified three main components: defensive-like play, aggressive-like play, and exploration. Aggressive-like play was significantly increased by both doses of EE2, and the gestational administration was in general more effective than the lactational one. Defensive-like play and exploration were not significantly affected by treatment. This research showed that low and very low doses of EE2 that mimic clinical or environmental exposure during development can affect important aspects of social behavior even during restricted time windows."

(Zaccaroni, Marco, et al. "Developmental Exposure to Low Levels of Ethinylestradiol Affects Play Behavior in Juvenile Female Rats." Neurotoxicity Research (2017): 1-11.)

Endocrine disrupting chemicals are devastating the biosphere

(Translation from Portuguese to English by Google Translate)

"Introduction to the theme: With the unraveling of the various technological revolutions (industrial revolution, green revolution, among others), from generation to generation, the molecular pattern to which we are exposed on a daily basis has changed. This change culminated in significant impacts on our biology and, along with it, on our health and disease processes. Unrestricted to us, we are slowly altering the chemistry of the biosphere, bringing devastating consequences to the myriad forms of life on earth - as Rachel Carson brilliantly stated, "in nature, there is nothing alone."
Theoretical course: [...] [A] number of molecules with chemical similarity to female hormones can promote endocrine disruption, blocking [sexual] differentiation at certain points. Among the molecules, many of them are fruits of modern chemical revolutions, such as phthalates (widely present in plastics and plasticizers), pesticides, herbicides, some drugs, smoking, and other household products that have become our market list. (...)
Conclusion: At the dawn of technological revolutions, a problem arises not only of public health, but also of the environment: we are destroying a biological equilibrium slowly shaped by tens of thousands of years. We are stealing the future not only of our children, but of whole specimens. Such a problem permeates the political bed. And with chronic public disregard for science, fewer and fewer people are able to question this type of problem and call for change and improvement. This problem plagues our future and, as a true science, must be debated and disseminated."

(Müller, Juliane Centeno, et al. "A DISTÂNCIA ANOGENITAL DOS RECÉM-NASCIDOS E SUA PROFUNDA RELAÇÃO COM A BIOSFERA.")

Engineering culture discriminates empathizing brains

"This paper reviews relevant research on how systemizing-empathizing (S-E) theory applies to engineering education and examines current research on the reasons behind the dearth of females in engineering, finding that the contemporary engineering culture in college is also characterized by subtle forms of discrimination that systematically direct women away from engineering."

(Fertig, Jan, and Subha Kumpaty. "Gender Issues in Engineering Education: What Systemizing and Empathizing Have to Do With It." ASME 2017 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition. American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2017.)

Male brains perceive themselves as more intelligent than female brains, even if they score the same grades

A first-of-its-kind study shows that in the college biology classroom, men perceive themselves as smarter, even when compared to women whose grades prove they are just as smart. (...)
Katelyn Cooper, a doctoral student in the Arizona State University School of Life Sciences and lead author of the study, has talked with hundreds of students as an academic advisor and those conversations led to this project.
"I would ask students about how their classes were going and I noticed a trend," shared Cooper. "Over and over again, women would tell me that they were afraid that other students thought that they were 'stupid.' I never heard this from the men in those same biology classes, so I wanted to study it."

(Arizona State University. "Who's smarter in the classroom -- men or women? New study shows it's all about perception." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 4 April 2018.)

Women (in general) experience pleasure when cooperating, men (in general) when they are cheating

"What we're going to see later is something very interesting: people playing [the Prisoner's Dilemma game] inside a brain scanner, [while the researchers are] looking into a part of the brain that has a lot to do with pleasure, and what you see is [that] some individuals activate that part of the brain when they've successfully stabbed the other guy in the back, some individuals activate it when they have both cooperated, and there's a big gender difference as to which circumstance. So you just guess which one is going on there (...)."

(March 31, 2010, Stanford professor Robert Sapolsky lectures on the biology of behavioral evolution, Youtube, "2. Behavioral Evolution", 44:36 - 45:04)

Men willing to punish more than women to get ahead

'Chapman University has published research measuring gender differences in cooperation and punishment behavior. Results showed that men punish more than women, men obtain higher rank, and punishment by males decreases payoffs for both sexes. Furthermore, men are willing to punish people who have done nothing wrong, except cooperate to the fullest extent possible. 

Results suggest that status-seeking men are willing to impose enormous costs on others and destroy their group to move up in the hierarchy. According to the study, men may punish more than women for two reasons: First, punishment is often viewed as similar to physical conflict. Men are known to favor physical punishment of unfair behavior. Men are also less cooperative and less generous compared with their female counterparts.
Second, status affects cooperative behavior and women may feel differently about status and rank. If so, punishment may be a tool used by certain individuals to advance in rank. For example, explicit rank-based incentives caused men to punish at roughly twice the rate of women. 

"Outside the laboratory, high-powered punishment and rank-based reward may be the norm," said Terence Burnham, Ph.D, associate professor in Chapman University's Argyros School of Business and Economics, and sole author of this study.'

(Chapman University. "Men willing to punish more than women to get ahead: New research evaluates gender differences in cooperation." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 16 April 2018. )

There are much more severely antisocial males than females

"Males greatly outnumber females in the most severe forms of antisocial behavior."

(Eme, Robert. "Sex differences in temperament: A partial explanation for the sex difference in the prevalence of serious antisocial behaviors." Aggression and Violent Behavior (2018).

Men are more risk taking, overconfident, more willing to hurt others than women

Considerable evidence that women are significantly more averse to taking risks

Why?
▪ Emotions: Women report more nervousness and fear in anticipation of negative outcomes
▪ Overconfidence: Men being more overconfident in their success in uncertain situations
▪ Perception of risk: Men are more likely to see a risky situation as a challenge while females women risky situations as threats
(citing Croson, Rachel, and Uri Gneezy. 2009. "Gender Differences in Preferences." Journal of Economic Literature, 47 (2): 448-74, DOI: 10.1257/jel.47.2.448)
(...)

Why do women compete less?

▪ Differences in performance: Not the case in arithmetic
▪ Differences in beliefs: Men are overconfident
▪ Preferences for risk: Women are more risk averse
▪ Differences in altruism: Women do not want to hurt others
▪ Aversion to competition: Women dislike performing in competitions
(...)

Evidence of overconfidence, particularly by men

Men:
% expecting to be 1st 75%
Of those expecting to be 1st, 27% were actually first
Women
% expecting to be 1st 43%
Of those expecting to be 1st, 47% were actually first
(citing Niederle, Muriel, and Lise Vesterlund. "Do women shy away from competition? Do men compete too much?." The Quarterly Journal of Economics 122.3 (2007): 1067-1101.)
(...)

Women avoid performing in competitive environments

Replicated many times
Why a gap in tournament entry?
▪ Beliefs: gap weakens in tasks where women are expected to perform better (e.g. verbal tasks) and when feedback about relative performance is given
▪ “Culture”: gap weakens when competition is for teams and not individuals, in matrilineal societies, among young children, and for girls who attend same-sex schools
(citing Niederle, Muriel, and Lise Vesterlund. "Gender and competition." Annu. Rev. Econ. 3.1 (2011): 601-630.)

(EXPERIMENTAL ECONOMICS - GENDER, presentation by Ernesto reuben, associate professor in the Social Science Division, New York University, Abu Dhabi)

Substantial differences between female and male brains in mice

Scientists studying the locus coeruleus brain structure in mice unexpectedly found substantial differences in the molecular structures of this part of the brain between male and female mice.

(Cell Press. "Mice brain structure linked with sex-based differences in anxiety behavior." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 22 May 2018. )

Teenage girls are more impacted by sleepiness than teen boys are

"What was most surprising is the fact that teenage girls reported a higher degree of interference of daytime sleepiness than teenage boys on multiple aspects of their school and personal activities," said co-author Pascale Gaudreault, who is completing her doctoral degree in clinical neuropsychology (...)."

(American Academy of Sleep Medicine. "Teenage girls are more impacted by sleepiness than teen boys are: Sleep disturbances in girls associated with more difficulties staying awake in and out of school." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 6 June 2018.)

Gender is not purely a social construct

"We suggest, however, that the evidence for gender being purely a social construct is limited and neither necessary nor accepted as such within andrology. (...) Many problems in men’s health that have been assumed to be the products of enculturation have in fact a biological basis."

(Tsang, Vivian WL, and Richard J. Wassersug. "Men’s Health Research versus Andrology—Defining the Division and Closing the Divide."(PDF download) Journal of Men's Health 14.3 (2018): e20-e32.)

Study finds less corruption in countries where more women are in government

"In a cross-country analysis of over 125 countries, this study finds that corruption is lower in countries where a greater share of parliamentarians are women. The study further finds that women's representation in local politics is important too -- the likelihood of having to bribe is lower in regions with a greater representation of women in local-level politics in Europe."

(Virginia Tech. "Study finds less corruption in countries where more women are in government." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 15 June 2018.)

The rupture of the masculinity-male and femininity-female associations

"Together, these findings suggest that gender stereotypes and self-attributions are changing in adolescents. Furthermore, our results can be considered to be an empirical confirmation of the rupture of the masculinity-male and femininity-female associations."

(Martínez-Marín, María Dolores, and Carmen Martínez. "Negative and Positive Attributes of Gender Stereotypes and Gender Self-Attributions: A Study with Spanish Adolescents." Child Indicators Research (2018): 1-21.)

Gender differences in psychopathology are quantitavie rather than qualitative, and related to brain masculinization/defeminization and acute testosterone levels

"Subtle gender differences in cognition arise due to the action of sex hormones during brain development, and are shaped by social influences [1-3]. Sex hormones also have immediate and reversible effects on cognition [4-6]. Women and men differ in specific measures of visuospatial and verbal ability, memory, and processing of emotional information [7,8].
The sexes also differ with respect to vulnerability to specific classes of psychopathology. For example, depressive and anxiety disorders are more prevalent in women, while autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Tourette Syndrome (TS) are more frequently observed in men [2,3]. Gender differences in psychopathology are most certainly a result of interactions between environmental factors and brain sexual dimorphisms. However, neuropsychiatric disorders also are often strongly influenced by genetic factors [9-11].
(...)
In sum, the present results point to complex interactions between gender and familial factors in determining premorbid characteristics, age of first psychotic episode, symptom severity, social functioning, and ultimate diagnosis. We propose that these gender differences may be related to quantitative variation in masculinization/defeminization of brain and cognition, as well as from acute effects of circulating estrogens and testosterone."

(Castro, Lina Díaz, Kurt Leroy Hoffman, Maria de Lourdes Nieto-García, Miriam Arroyo Belmonte, Hector Cabello-Rangel, Miguel Ángel Herrera-Estrella, Mariana Chávez-Cervantes, and Carlos Luis Aviña-Cervantes. "Gender Differences within the Psychosis Spectrum." Neuropsychiatry (London) 8, no. 4 (2018): 1186-1195.)

Ano-genital distance reflects prenatal androgen levels during early gestation, but not thereafter

"Our results suggest that AGD (Ano-Genital Distance) in humans, like animals, is fixed in early gestation (likely during the hypothesized MPW [masculinization programming window]) and is unaffected by androgen levels thereafter. Thus, AGD can serve as a biomarker of in utero androgen action during early gestation (likely 8–14 weeks) in humans."

(Jain, Viral G., Vaibhav Goyal, Vikas Chowdhary, Namita Swarup, Ravinder J. Singh, Arbinder Singal, and Prem Shekhawat. "Anogenital distance is determined during early gestation in humans." Human Reproduction (2018).)

Women more concerned about 'exploiting' social ties than men

"A new study reveals that it is not only exclusion by men, but also self-imposed barriers including hesitation and gendered modesty that prevent women from networking as effectively as their male counterparts. The research revealed that women's tendencies to harbor moral concerns about 'exploiting' social ties causes them to under-benefit from networking activities."

(SAGE. "Women build less effective professional networks than men as they underestimate self-worth." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 15 November 2018.)

Men remember pain differently (causing them to be more sensitive to repeated pain) than women

"We believe that the mice and the men were anticipating [pain trigger] and, for the males, the stress of that anticipation caused greater pain sensitivity," says Mogil. "There was some reason to expect that we would see increased sensitivity to pain on the second day, but there was no reason to expect it would be specific to males. That came as a complete surprise."

(McGill University. "Men and women remember pain differently: Strength of finding confirmed by replication of results in mice and men." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 10 January 2019. )

Facial masculinity not asscoiated with immunocompetence

"[W]e measured immunocompetence via heterozygosity at the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), a widely-used genetic marker of immunity. We show that, while height is positively correlated with MHC heterozygosity, facial masculinity is not. Thus, facial masculinity does not reflect immunocompetence measured by MHC heterozygosity in humans."

(Zaidi, Arslan A., Julie D. White, Brooke C. Mattern, Corey R. Liebowitz, David A. Puts, Peter Claes, and Mark D. Shriver. "Facial masculinity does not appear to be a condition-dependent male ornament and does not reflect MHC heterozygosity in humans." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2019): 201808659.)

Entrepreneurs like competition for the competition, not for winning or for personal development

"Referring to Isreal M. Kirzner (1973) and Schumpeter (1934), who emphasized the competitive nature of entrepreneurship, this study investigates whether potential and revealed entrepreneurs are more likely to seek competition than non-entrepreneurs. We provide a conceptual framework that links entrepreneurship to three facets of individual competitiveness drawn from economic, entrepreneurship, and psychological research: a desire to win, striving for personal development, and an enjoyment of competition. Following economic research linking competitive behavior in experiments to career choices, we conduct a lab-in-the-field study and demonstrate that entrepreneurs are more likely to enter competitions than non-entrepreneurs. Accounting for individual desires to win and mastery-related achievement motivations, our results indicate that entrepreneurs tend to enter competition for the sake of competition itself rather than for the prospect of winning it or personal development. Our results suggest that enjoyment of competition might be an additional factor driving entrepreneurs’ market entry decisions beyond well-known factors like overconfidence and risk-taking."

(Urbig, Diemo, Werner Bönte, Vivien D. Procher, and Sandro Lombardo. "Entrepreneurs embrace competition: evidence from a lab-in-the-field study." Small Business Economics (2019): 1-22.)

Females with specific genotype resemble males in Autism Quotient-Imagination subscale

"The extreme male brain theory of autism posits that its male bias is mediated by exaggeration of male-biased sex differences inthe expression of autism-associated traits found in typical populations. The theory is supported by extensive phenotypicevidence, but no genes have yet been described with properties that fit its predictions. The autophagy-associated gene AMBRA1 represents one of the top genome-wide “hits” in recent GWAS studies of schizophrenia, shows sex-differential expression, and has been linked with autism risk and traits in humans and mice, especially or exclusively among females. Wegenotyped the AMBRA1 autism-risk SNP in a population of typical humans who were scored for the dimensional expressionof autistic and schizotypal traits. Females, but not males, homozygous for the GG genotype showed a significant increase inscore for the single trait, the Autism Quotient-Imagination subscale, that exhibits a strong, significant male bias in typicalpopulations. As such, females with this genotype resembled males for this highly sexually dimorphic, autism-associated phenotype. These findings support the extreme male brain hypothesis and indicate that sex-specific genetic effects canmediate aspects of risk for autism."

(CRESPI, Bernard, et al. AMBRA1, Autophagy, and the Extreme Male Brain Theory of Autism. Autism Research and Treatment, 2019, 2019.)

Higher adult androgen exposure associated with higher handgrip strength and less emotionality

"2D:4D ratios and handgrip strength tests are two protocols that indirectly measure androgen exposure prenatally and in adulthood respectively. (...) Athletes who scored higher on the handgrip strength test showed lower levels of emotionality."

(BOURKE, Colm. The Characteristics of Successful Student Athletes. 2019. PhD Thesis. University of Louisiana at Monroe.)

Unethical behavior associated with higher facial width-to-height ratio in male and female athletes

"Past research has emphasized the role of facial structures in predicting social behavior. In particular the facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) was found to be a reliable predictor for antisocial and unethical behavior. The current study was aimed at examining this association in the field of sports: FWHRs of 146 doping sanctioned athletes in athletics (37 male/38 female) and weightlifting (44 male/27 female) were compared to the fWHRs of randomly chosen non-doping sanctioned athletes of the Top Ten at the World Championship 2017 and Olympic Games 2016 in both sports (146 athletes). The results showed that doping sanctioned athletes due to the use of anabolic steroids had larger fWHRs than non-doping sanctioned athletes. However, doping sanctioned athletes due to other doping rule violations than the use of anabolic steroids, did not show this effect. The study provides empirical evidence for the relation between fWHR and unethical behavior in a real-world setting and contributes to the discussion about fWHR’s biological origin, emphasizing the role of anabolic steroids. A mutual interaction between fWHR and doping behavior is discussed, at which a larger fWHR might signify a higher tendency to behave unethically, whereas the consequential intake of anabolic steroids might also shape individuals’ faces."

(Krenn, B., and C. Buehler. "Facial features and unethical behavior-Doped athletes show higher facial width-to-height ratios than non-doping sanctioned athletes." PloS one 14.10 (2019): e0224472-e0224472.)

Cognitive rigidity associated with extremist attitudes

"Research into the roots of ideological extremism has traditionally focused on the social, economic, and demographic factors that make people vulnerable to adopting hostile attitudes toward outgroups. However, there is insufficient empirical work on individual differences in implicit cognition and information processing styles that amplify an individual’s susceptibility to endorsing violence to protect an ideological cause or group. Here we present original evidence that objectively assessed cognitive inflexibility predicts extremist attitudes, including a willingness to harm others, and sacrifice one’s life for the group. Across two samples (N = 1,047) from the United Kingdom and United States, structural equation models demonstrated that cognitive inflexibility predicted endorsement of violence to protect the national ingroup, which in turn predicted a willingness to die for the group. These statistical models accounted for an average of 31.4% of the variance in willingness to die for the group, after accounting for demographic variables. Furthermore, cognitive inflexibility was related to greater confidence in the decision to sacrifice one’s life in an ingroup trolley problem scenario. Analysis of participants’ performance on the cognitive tasks revealed that cognitive rigidity – distinctly from other aspects of cognition – was specifically implicated as a cognitive antecedent of extremist attitudes. Implications for the study of radicalization and identity fusion through a neurocognitive lens are discussed."

(Zmigrod, Leor, Peter Jason Rentfrow, and Trevor W. Robbins. "Cognitive inflexibility predicts extremist attitudes." Frontiers in psychology 10 (2019): 989.)

More feminine gender identity associated with more ethical behavior (also among men)

"This study shows that gender identity affects ethical intentions. We investigate the intention to purchase ethical products through a survey study among young consumers in Italy. Measures of planned behavior, internal ethics, self‐identity, and moral harm, together with proxies for individual gender identities of femininity and masculinity are included in our model of intention to purchase ethically. Results show that femininity significantly increases ethical intent, whereas masculinity has an opposite effect. These findings are robust to gender. In fact, the relations of femininity and masculinity on the intention to consume ethical products hold when the subsamples of males and females are considered."

(Pinna, Mariella. "Do gender identities of femininity and masculinity affect the intention to buy ethical products?." Psychology & Marketing.)

Autism associated with facial femininity in men, and facial masculinity in women

"In the present study, we conducted two experiments to examine facial masculinity/femininity in 151 neurotypical adults selected for either low, mid‐range, or high levels of autistic traits. In the first experiment, their three‐dimensional facial photographs were subjectively rated by 41 raters for masculinity/femininity and were objectively analysed. In the second experiment, we generated 6‐face composite images, which were rated by another 36 raters. Across both experiments, findings were consistent for ratings of photographs and composite images. For females, a linear relationship was observed where femininity ratings decreased as a function of higher levels of autistic traits. For males, we found a U‐shaped function where males with mid‐range levels of traits were rated lowest on masculinity. Objective facial analyses revealed that higher levels of autistic traits were associated with less feminine facial structures in females and less masculine structures in males. These results suggest sex‐specific relationships between autistic traits and facial masculinity/femininity."

(Tan, Diana Weiting, Murray T. Maybery, Louise Ewing, Jia‐Xin Tay, Peter R. Eastwood, and Andrew JO Whitehouse. "Sex‐specific variation in facial masculinity/femininity associated with autistic traits in the general population." British Journal of Psychology (2019).)

Women find artificially masculinized men more attractive

(Clarkson, Tessa R., Morgan J. Sidari, Rosanna Sains, Meredith Alexander, Melissa Harrison, Valeriya Mefodeva, Samuel Pearson, Anthony J. Lee, and Barnaby JW Dixson. "A multivariate analysis of women's mating strategies and sexual selection on men's facial morphology." Royal Society Open Science 7, no. 1 (2020): 191209.)

Women slower on mental rotation test, but with equal results; men and women approach spatial tasks differently

"Dr Toth sums up the results: "So males are better than females? Well no, actually. Our study found that there is no male advantage in mental rotation abilities. By lengthening the time allowed to complete the test, the male performance advantage diminished entirely suggesting that the so-called sex difference in mental rotation is simply not there or may be explained by other factors."

The research published in Nature Scientific Reports also found for the first time that both males and females frequently employed different gaze strategies during the cognitive tests to get to the correct answer. In other words, men and women approach the task in a different way to get the same result.

The research paper is entitled: 'Investigating sex differences, cognitive effort, strategy, and performance on a computerised version of the mental rotations test via eye-tracking.'"

(University of Limerick. "The sexes have equal spatial cognition skills: Men and women approach the task differently but get the same result." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 27 January 2020)