Are males really better than females at navigating?

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-01-17 11:01

International

CC:0

Have you ever heard the old saying that men are better than women at navigating? Well, US researchers looking into the differences in wayfinding in 21 different species, including humans, say that it's not quite right. The team looked at how humans and animals found their way around their specific home ranges, and how good they were at spatially recognising the areas, and say there was actually no significant correlation to the sexes. Instead, they say this ability is more likely due to experienced factors, or unselected biological side effects, rather than actual functional outcomes of natural selection.

News release

From: The Royal Society

Still little evidence sex differences in spatial navigation are evolutionary adaptations

A putative male advantage in wayfinding ability is the most widely documented sex difference in human cognition and has also been observed in other animals. The common interpretation is that that the male advantage evolved as an adaptive response to sex differences in home range size. However, we tested this hypothesis by comparing sex differences in home range size and spatial ability across 21 species and found no significant correlation. We conclude that sex differences in spatial ability are more likely due to experiential factors and/or unselected biological side effects, rather than functional outcomes of natural selection.

Journal/
conference: Royal Society Open Science

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University of Illinois, USA

Funder: Authors state no funding was received for this study

Media Contact/s

Contact details are only visible to registered journalists.