Signal-detection outcomes on heartbeat and respiratory resistance detection tasks in male and female subjects

Male and female subjects were compared on heartbeat, respiratory resistance, and light‐tone signal‐detection tasks. Subjects judged whether a series of 10 tones was coincident with their heartbeats; whether an external load added to the airway was either present or absent during targeted inspiratory cycles; and whether a series of 10 light flashes was matched with auditory tones presented following a fixed delay of either 50 or 100 ms. Nonparametric indices of perceptual sensitivity and response bias indicated that men were more sensitive than women on the resistive load task (p < .05) and on the heartbeat task (p= .07). Performance on the light‐tone task was virtually identical. All subjects used a stricter criterion on the respiratory resistance task than on either the heartbeat or the light‐tone task; women employed a stricter criterion than men on the heartbeat task. The gender differences may be understood in terms of lateralization of central processing of somesthetic sensory information.