1 3 Exp Brain Res DOI 10.1007/s00221-016-4643-3 RESEARCH ARTICLE Sex differences in visuospatial and navigational working memory: the role of mood induced by background music Massimiliano Palmiero 1,2 · Raffaella Nori 3 · Carmelo Rogolino 2 · Simonetta D’amico 2 · Laura Piccardi 1,2 Received: 14 October 2015 / Accepted: 30 March 2016 © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016 with the negative background music. This means that mood cannot fully explain sex differences in visuospatial and navigational working memory. Our results suggest that sex differences in the CBT and WalCT can be better explained by differences in spatial competences rather than by emo- tional contexts. Keywords Gender differences · Spatial ability · Working memory · Situated cognition · Arousal · Strategies Introduction The interest in sex differences in cognition is long-stand- ing (Halpern 1991; Kimura 1999; Linn and Petersen 1985; Lawton 2010). Among other things, sex difference research has focused on the male advantage in spatial cognition (over a wide range of spatial tests), which is crucial for many everyday tasks. Mental rotation is one of the most consistent sex differences found, showing little evidence of decreasing over time (e.g. Lawton 2010). Specifically, it emerges that men outperform women in 2D and 3D mental rotation tasks (e.g. Kaufman 2007; Linn and Petersen 1985; Masters and Sanders 1993; Nori et al. 2012; Silverman et al. 2007; Verde et al. 2013; Voyer et al. 1995). However, focusing on spatial working memory, conflict- ing results have been collected regarding sex differences in visuospatial working memory as measured by the Corsi Block-tapping Task—CBT (Corsi 1972). Various studies found a higher memory span in men than in women (Cap- itani et al. 1991; Orsini et al. 1981, 1986, 1987; Piccardi et al. 2008, 2013), while in other studies, no differences between men and women were found (Kessels et al. 2002; Nichelli et al. 2001; Pagulayan et al. 2006; Smirni et al. 1983). Shah et al. (2013) reported that men outperformed Abstract Sex differences in visuospatial abilities are long debated. Men generally outperform women, especially in wayfinding or learning a route or a sequence of places. These differences might depend on women’s disadvantage in underlying spatial competences, such as mental rotation, and on the strategies used, as well as on emotions and on self-belief about navigational skills, not related to actual skill-levels. In the present study, sex differences in visuos- patial and navigational working memory in emotional con- texts were investigated. Participants’ mood was manipu- lated by background music (positive, negative or neutral) while performing on the Corsi Block-tapping Task (CBT) and Walking Corsi (WalCT) test. In order to assess the effectiveness of mood manipulation, participants filled in the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule before and after carrying out the visuospatial tasks. Firstly, results showed that after mood induction, only the positive affect changed, whereas the negative affect remained unconfounded by mood and by sex. This finding is in line with the main effect of ‘group’ on all tests used: the positive music group scored significantly higher than other groups. Secondly, although men outperformed women in the CBT forward condition and in the WalCT forward and backward condi- tions, they scored higher than women only in the WalCT * Massimiliano Palmiero massimiliano.palmiero@univaq.it 1 Neuropsychology Unit, I.R.C.C.S. Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy 2 Department of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences, University of L’Aquila, Piazzale Salvatore Tommasi 1, 67010 L’Aquila, Italy 3 Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy