Women and men are biologically predisposed to use different navigational strategies, report scientists from the Yerkes National Primate Center.
While studying the developmental effects of prenatal hormone exposures, the researchers how monkeys used memory, landmarks and spatial information to search for food.
Female monkeys tended to rely on landmarks to navigate, while the males took a more straight-ahead approach. When males had their testosterone cut back, they started relying more on landmarks and less on estimated distances.
All of this might provide a clue as to why, in those (exceedingly rare) times when I've become lost while driving, I've failed to heed the admonitions of (nervous and misguided) passengers who ask, "Why don't you just stop and ask for directions?"
Perhaps I fail to stop not because I'm stubborn or proud or unable to read a map -- of course not! -- but because I'm biologically programmed to navigate in my own special way.
Sex And Prenatal Hormone Exposure Affect Cognitive Performance [press release]
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Image: Rupert Ganzer*
