Sex differences in route-learning

Abstract

Past literature on map-learning tasks has generally inferred that males tend to use a geometric strategy, and females tend to use a landmark strategy to learn a map. However, none of the studies have controlled for possible effects of extra-map superior visual memory in females on their memory for landmarks, and few have probed the actual relation between accuracy of performance and geometric or landmark knowledge. This study investigated sex differences in strategies for route-learning, controlling for visual-item memory. All subjects (48 female, 49 male) were required to learn a route to criterion through a novel map. As expected, males made fewer errors and took fewer trials to reach criterion. Females remembered more landmarks both on and off the route than males, and superior memory for landmarks was not accounted for by a superior visual-item memory. Males outperformed females in knowledge of the Euclidean properties of the map. However, despite the pronounced sex differences in knowledge retained from the maps, both males' and females' performance was related to spatial ability rather than to landmark recall.