Mapping Out Spatial Ability: Sex Differences in Way-Finding Navigation

This study examined how navigational strategies, map drawing, and map reading skills may be related in spatial perception performance of 124 U.S. undergraduate men and women who completed one of two versions of Collaer and Nelson's Judgment of Line Angle and Position–15 test and Piaget's Water Level Test. Analysis indicated sex differences in performance were eliminated when self-perceptions of map reading, map drawing, and navigational skills were used as covariates. The men used an orientation (cardinal), whereas the women used a landmark way-finding strategy. Introducing a fine motor skill to solve the Judgment of Line Angle and Position–15 eliminated the sex difference. The data suggest spatial perception is in part influenced by map reading and way-finding strategies.

[1]  M. Casey,et al.  Girls who use “masculine” problem-solving strategies on a spatial task: Proposed genetic and environmental factors , 1991, Brain and Cognition.

[2]  D. Saucier,et al.  Males and females scan maps similarly, but give directions differently , 2003, Brain and Cognition.

[3]  M. L. Collaer,et al.  Large Sex Difference in Adolescents on a Timed Line Judgment Task: Attentional Contributors and Task Relationship to Mathematics , 2006, Perception.

[4]  J. M. Dabbs,et al.  Spatial Ability, Navigation Strategy, and Geographic Knowledge Among Men and Women , 1998 .

[5]  William H Warren,et al.  Do humans integrate routes into a cognitive map? Map- versus landmark-based navigation of novel shortcuts. , 2010, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[6]  I. Cherney.  Mom, Let Me Play More Computer Games: They Improve My Mental Rotation Skills , 2008 .

[7]  Sholl Mj,et al.  The relation between horizontality and rod-and-frame and vestibular navigational performance. , 1989 .

[8]  I. Silverman,et al.  The Hunter-Gatherer theory of spatial sex differences: Proximate factors mediating the female advantage in recall of object arrays , 1994 .

[9]  I. Cherney,et al.  Role of Strategies and Prior Exposure in Mental Rotation , 2004, Perceptual and motor skills.

[10]  J. A. List,et al.  Differences in memory retrieval: a construct validity investigation. , 1985, Child development.

[11]  Lynn S. Liben,et al.  Illusory Tilt and Euclidean Schemes as Factors in Performance on the Water-Level Task , 1995 .

[12]  Isabelle D. Cherney,et al.  Sex Differences in Line Judgment: Relation to Mathematics Preparation and Strategy Use , 2005, Perceptual and motor skills.

[13]  N. Newcombe,et al.  How Important Is the Digital Divide? The Relation of Computer and Videogame Usage to Gender Differences in Mental Rotation Ability , 2005 .

[14]  Irwin Silverman,et al.  Non-Euclidean Navigational Strategies of Women: Compensatory Response or Evolved Dimorphism? , 2006 .

[15]  M. Sholl,et al.  The relation between horizontality and rod-and-frame and vestibular navigational performance. , 1989, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[16]  Irwin Silverman,et al.  Processes underlying sex differences in route-learning strategies in children and adolescents , 2003 .

[17]  M. Robert.  The gender difference in orienting liquid surfaces and plumb-lines: its robustness, its correlates, and the associated knowledge of simple physics. , 1996, Canadian journal of experimental psychology = Revue canadienne de psychologie experimentale.

[18]  D. Saucier,et al.  Are sex differences in navigation caused by sexually dimorphic strategies or by differences in the ability to use the strategies? , 2002, Behavioral neuroscience.

[19]  Lynn S. Liben,et al.  The Water-Level Task , 1996 .

[20]  N. Newcombe,et al.  The role of experience in spatial test performance: A meta-analysis , 1989 .

[21]  M. Linn,et al.  Emergence and characterization of sex differences in spatial ability: a meta-analysis. , 1985, Child development.

[22]  E. Spelke,et al.  Human Spatial Representation: Insights from Animals , 2002 .

[23]  Absence of gender differences in memory for map learning , 1987 .

[24]  Andrew P. Duchon,et al.  Do Humans Integrate Routes Into a Cognitive Map? Map- Versus Landmark-Based Navigation of Novel Shortcuts , 2005 .

[25]  M. Robert,et al.  Gender differences in horizontality and verticality representation in relation to initial position of the stimuli. , 1993, Canadian journal of experimental psychology = Revue canadienne de psychologie experimentale.

[26]  H. Hecht,et al.  The Price of Expertise: Effects of Experience on the Water-Level Task , 1995 .

[27]  Linda E Rohr,et al.  Upper and Lower Limb Reciprocal Tapping: Evidence for Gender Biases , 2006, Journal of motor behavior.

[28]  Jean Choi,et al.  Sex-Specific Relationships Between Route-Learning Strategies and Abilities in a Large-Scale Environment , 2006 .

[29]  Q. Rahman,et al.  A specific sexual orientation-related difference in navigation strategy. , 2005, Behavioral neuroscience.

[30]  M. L. Collaer,et al.  Large Visuospatial Sex Difference in Line Judgment: Possible Role of Attentional Factors , 2002, Brain and Cognition.

[31]  David Boles,et al.  Sex differences in spatial ability: A lateralization of function approach , 2004, Brain and Cognition.

[32]  D. Kimura,et al.  Sex differences in route-learning , 1993 .

[33]  G. Engelhard,et al.  Gender Differences in Performance on Multiple-Choice and Constructed Response Mathematics Items. , 1999 .

[34]  Katherine Schultz,et al.  The contribution of solution strategy to spatial performance , 1991 .

[35]  C. Lawton.  Gender differences in way-finding strategies: Relationship to spatial ability and spatial anxiety , 1994 .

[36]  James T. Becker,et al.  Working Memory(s) , 1999, Brain and Cognition.

[37]  Lorin J. Elias,et al.  Are sex differences in navigation caused by sexually dimorphic strategies or by differences in the ability to use the strategies , 2002 .

[38]  A C Gibbs,et al.  Sex Differences in Route Learning by Children , 1999, Perceptual and motor skills.

[39]  J. Richardson.  Gender differences in imagery, cognition, and memory , 1991 .

[40]  Lynn S. Liben,et al.  Sex Differences in Performance on Piagetian Spatial Tasks: Differences in Competence or Performance?. , 1980 .