Sex differences in the implementation of cognitive tasks of different complexity

The solution of any cognitive task in a limited time, such as driving a car, operator's work, etc., requires the exact distribution of motions over time. The present work used the process of perception and reproduction of time intervals as the model of solutions of cognitive tasks that demand precise control of motions in time from human. The main research method was the method of event-related brain potentials. 39 healthy volunteers (21 men and 18 women) aged 18 to 30 were tested for the level of verbal and non-verbal intelligence; and their event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were explored during the solution of timing cognitive tasks of varying complexity. As a difficult task the squares of four different colours were presented at the centre of the screen, the exposure time varied for squares of different colours (for the blue squares - 1000 and 400 ms, for the others - 400 ms). The subject had to measure the time interval of 1 second by double-clicking the spacebar if the square was red, to reproduce the interval corresponding to the time of exposure of the square on the screen if they were blue, and otherwise (white or green squares) the subject had to quickly double-click the spacebar. As a simple task the stimuli were presented in the same colour and with the same exposure time, and the subject had to press the spacebar if the square was white, and ignore the other colours (red, blue, and green). We found sex differences in the performance of cognitive tasks of varying complexity in a limited time. Men showed better and faster difficult task performance than women. The relation between the intelligence and the success of task performance was different for men and women. Men with high intelligence solved the task more successfully, whereas women with high intelligence were less successful in task performance. The negative components of ERPs, which appeared just before the motor task performance (N0-500) and during it (N500-0), are most specific for the tasks associated with the processing of temporal information. The correlation between the amplitude of these components and the level and the characteristics of intelligence were different for men and women. A high level of intelligence of men combined with a low amplitude of N0-500 and N500-0 components. For women, a high level of visual and linguistic intelligence combined with low amplitudes of the same components, and a high level of mathematical intelligence combined with higher amplitudes of N0-500 and N500-0 components.

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