The role of mathematical skill in sex differences on Raven’s Matrices

► Males show advantage on certain Raven’s rules. ► Males showed a higher correlation specifically between maths and these rules. ► Females’ performance correlated equally with verbal, spatial and maths scores. ► Raven’s items marshal specific processes in males and general processes in females. This study replicated a previously reported male advantage on certain items of Raven’s Matrices and found no sex differences in performance on other items. We refer to the latter as analytic (1) items and the former as analytic (2) items. Reasons for the male advantage were investigated by correlating scores obtained by male and female high school students on analytic (1) and analytic (2) items with their scores on tests of spatial, verbal and mathematical ability. There were no sex differences in the magnitude of the correlations between scores on analytic (2) items and the two spatial and verbal tests. In contrast, males but not females showed a significantly higher correlation of maths with analytic (2) than with analytic (1). The results suggest the Raven’s Matrices may engage different, more specific cognitive processes in males and more general cognitive processes in females.