The relation of sex and sense of direction to spatial orientation in an unfamiliar environment

An experiment is reported which tested the relation of sex (male, female) and self-reported sense of direction (good, poor) to spatial orientation ability, when walking or driving through an unfamiliar region of large-scale space. Three types of spatial orientation were tested: orientation to distant, non-visible landmarks surrounding the region; orientation to the starting point of a locomoted trajectory within the region; and orientation to compass directions. Sense of direction tended to be related to people's ability to maintain their orientation to distal landmarks, but in the walking task the relation was complex and varied as a function of sex. Sex was related to people's ability to orient to south, but neither sex nor sense of direction were related to people's ability to orient to the starting point of a locomoted trajectory. The findings are consistent with earlier reports that males are more likely than females to use cardinal directions for orientation, and they introduce the idea that the time course over which orientation to distal landmarks develops in an unfamiliar natural environment may differ for males and females as a function of self-reported sense of direction.