Sex Differences in Processing Movement vs Objects Figure 3. Data shown in the upper panel are the percentage of correct responses (mean ±SEM) for color discrimination of 15 females and 13 males tested in Experiment 2. Lower panel shows the mean (6SEM) reaction time for the same participants. No targeting responses were required in this condition and participants had no experience with the targeting aspects of the EVITA task. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0032238.g003 require that the bottom-up strategy co-exist with a potential top- down strategy at the onset of each trial in the dual attention condition, which would be expected to lead to some interference. If the female preference is to employ a top-down strategy for targeting, such interference would not be present because a top down analysis is required in both sexes for color shade recognition because of the de facto necessity of conscious analysis. This interference interpretation is supported by results of studies showing greater top-down cortical activation in females compared with males while performing higher order spatial tasks such as PLoS ONE | www.plosone.org 6 March 2012 | Volume 7 | Issue 3 | e32238