Toronto, February 9, 2026 – New research is proving persistent gender gaps in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers can't be explained by academic ability alone. A recent Baycrest study suggests that success in STEM careers is shaped by different cognitive strengths and that these strengths relate differently to career outcomes for women and men.
The findings offer new insight into why women remain underrepresented in computational STEM fields, such as computer science and engineering, despite comparable academic ability.
The researchers examined both spatial imagery, as in navigation and mental rotation, and object imagery, as in memory for colours and features, as predictors of who is likely to select – and succeed in – computational STEM disciplines. As in prior research, they found that higher spatial imagery was positively associated with success in STEM careers across genders. Object imagery, however, was negatively related to participation and success in computational STEM fields, but only among men.
While previous research has explored who is more likely to pursue STEM careers, this study is among the first to examine how different kinds of mental imagery abilities relate to STEM occupational outcomes.
"Spatial thinking has long been viewed as a key cognitive driver of STEM success," says Dr. Moriah Sokolowski, Adjunct Scientist at Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute and lead author of the study, titled " Visual imagery and STEM occupational attainment: Gender matters ," published recently in Personality and Individual Differences. "Our results support its importance, but also show that succeeding in computational STEM disciplines relies on abstract, nonvisual reasoning. Importantly, women with these cognitive profiles appear less likely than men to pursue computational STEM careers."
The researchers examined how different types of visual imagery relate to STEM and computational skills using a large online sample of 4,545 participants. They analyzed associations between spatial imagery, object imagery and STEM occupations, then tested whether the findings held in additional samples.
These included 1,891 individuals with aphantasia, a condition characterized by very low object imagery abilities, and 186 university undergraduate students. In these groups, the researchers examined both occupational outcomes and academic performance, including course grades, to replicate and generalize the findings.
Main study findings:
- The ability to mentally manipulate spatial information was positively associated with STEM occupations and academic outcomes for both men and women.
- Men who reported less vivid mental imagery for objects were more likely to work in computational STEM roles and earn higher grades in computational coursework, a pattern not observed in women.
- Women with comparable cognitive profiles were less likely to enter computational STEM fields, suggesting the influence of social, cultural or structural barriers.
The findings suggest that current approaches to identifying and supporting STEM talent may be too narrow and may inadvertently disadvantage women. Focusing primarily on spatial skills may overlook other cognitive strengths, such as nonspatial abstract reasoning, that are highly relevant to computational STEM.
While lower object imagery predicted success for men in computational STEM, this relationship was not observed in women, pointing to the possible influence of sociocultural or affective factors, such as stereotype threat or math anxiety, even when cognitive abilities are comparable.
Recognizing diverse cognitive profiles as strengths, rather than deficits, could help educators and employers develop more inclusive strategies to support a broader range of students and workers in STEM fields.
This research was supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and an SSHRC Banting Post-Doctoral Fellowship to H.M.S.
About Baycrest
Baycrest is an internationally recognized academic health sciences organization based in Toronto, focused on aging and brain health.
Baycrest brings together a post-acute care hospital, long-term care, senior living, memory care, research and education — supporting older adults, caregivers and others on the journey of aging. This integrated ecosystem allows care, discovery and learning to inform one another, improving lives today while shaping how aging is understood and supported tomorrow.
Guided by a vision of a world where every older person lives with purpose, fulfilment and dignity, Baycrest translates knowledge into practice, advances specialized care and shares its expertise with health systems, partners and communities in Canada and around the world.
The future of aging is here.
