a 2006 meta-analysis by researcher rena a kirkland in the "north american journal of psychology" found significant sex differences favoring females in "reading of the mind" test. "reading of the mind" test is an advanced ability measure of cognitive empathy in which kirkland's analysis involved 259 studies across 10 countries. another 2014 meta-analysis in "cognition and emotion", found overall female advantage in non-verbal emotional recognition across 215 samples.