“Sex Differences in Cognitive Abilities: 4^th Edition: Chapter 3: Empirical Evidence for Cognitive Sex Differences”, Diane F. Halpern2011 (IQ, psychology)⁠:

Although sex differences have not been found in general intelligence, there are some types of cognitive abilities that vary, on the average, as a function of sex. There are some sex-related differences in the earliest stages of information processing—perception and attention—but the effect of these early stage differences on later cognitive processes is unknown and we cannot conclude that they are responsible for differences in cognitive abilities. Males comprise a disproportionate share of the extremely low ability end of the verbal abilities distribution, with males overwhelmingly categorized as stutterers, dyslexics, and low IQ. By contrast, females excel at general and mixed verbal ability tests, speech production, writing, memory for words, objects, and locations, (some) perceptual motor skills, and associational fluency. These differences appear as soon as speech and language usage begin.

There are few differences in quantitative abilities for most of the population—that is, the middle range of the ability distribution, but there are 3–4× more males scoring at the highest levels on standardized tests of mathematics that are designed for use in college and beyond. Similarly, there are disproportionately more females at the high ability end on writing tests and (to a lesser extent) on tests of verbal reasoning. There are at least 5 types of visuospatial ability that have been identified: spatial perception, mental rotation, spatial visualization, spatiotemporal ability, and generation and maintenance of visual images. Sex differences favoring males are found on all of them except spatial visualization, which typically does not show sex differences, but when sex differences are found, they favor males. The effect sizes for mental rotation and judgments of line orientation are among the largest found in the literature and can be found developmentally—in infants as young as 3 months old for mental rotation. The effect size for visuospatial abilities has remained unchanged for many decades. An analysis of the underlying cognitive processes was proposed, with males performing especially well on tasks that involve maintaining and manipulating mental representations and females performing especially well on tasks that require rapid access to and retrieval of information from memory, especially when the information is verbal.

It is important to keep in mind that the list of cognitive differences is relatively small and that cognitive similarities between the sexes are greater than the differences.

• Intelligence

  • There Are Data and There Are Interpretations of Data

• The When, Where, Who, and How of Differences

  • Tails of Distributions

  • Variability

  • Developmental Perspectives

  • Measurement Variables

• Perception

  • Audition, Olfaction, Vision, Taste, and Time Perception

  • Perceptual Motor Tasks

  • Attention

  • What Sex Differences in Perception Mean and How They Have Been Distorted

• A Cognitive Abilities Approach

• Memory

• Verbal Abilities

  • Age Trends in Verbal Abilities

• Visuospatial Abilities

  • 5 Categories of Visuospatial Abilities

  • Visuospatial Knowledge and Memory

  • Age Trends in Visuospatial Abilities

  • Cognitive Styles

• Quantitative Abilities

  • Age Trends in Quantitative Abilities

• Thinking About the Magnitude of Differences

• Underlying Cognitive Processes

• Are Sex Differences Decreasing?

• Similarities

• Chapter Summary