Current Events > Study: Men take shortcuts, women take well-known routes, men better navigators

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.springer.com/gp/about-springer/media/research-news/all-english-research-news/ (space) men-take-shortcuts--while-women-follow-well-known-routes/15780832

As predicted from previous research, these experiments showed that men were more likely to take shortcuts and on average reached their goal location faster than women. In contrast, female participants were more likely to follow learned routes and wander, explains Boone. In both experiments, men were significantly more efficient than women, even after controlling for the effects of strategy.

The study also confirmed the large difference in efficiency with which men and women navigate which was measured by looking at the time it took participants to reach the goal locations, and whether they reached it by following a direct route or not. The participating men were better at this task and therefore reached the intended destination more quickly. However, it is important to point out that these are differences in average performance between men and women, and some women were just as efficient as the best male performers.

Overall, our research indicates that the sex difference in navigation efficiency is large, and is partly related to navigation strategy, says Boone.

According to Boone and his colleagues, when a person wanders it suggests that he or she does not have adequate knowledge about the specific landmarks in a certain area. He says that the finding that women tend to wander more might reflect a possible inability on their part to learn the layout of an area, at least with the amount of familiarization they receive in this experiment.

It is also possible that the sex difference in efficiency is due in part to facility with the interface or navigation in virtual environments, as men tend to spend more time playing video games, speculates Boone.

Therefore the researchers believe that it will be important in future research to examine whether the same results are found when people navigate in real environments, rather than virtual environments.

It's always nice when numbers reinforce the already well known.
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No shit.
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Well my wife just takes the most convoluted round-about route possible, so in that way I'd say I'm a better navigator.
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This isnt news
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it would be easier to open the sunroof of my car and navigate by looking for constellations in the night sky than ask my wife to use her iphone to read directions to me
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This is old as hell, men have been known to be better navigators, how many times will this study be done ??
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Well, this kind of flies in the face of the old joke about men getting lost because they won't ask for directions. Turns out, they actually knew where they were going all along.

But seriously, this makes sense. Taking more shortcuts over well established routes meshes with the idea that men tend to take more risks than women.

Men being better navigators meshes with the historical precedent that men were pretty much always the ones exploring and discovering new lands.

Also, are they trying to suggest men might be better navigators because they get experience navigating virtual environments because they play more video games, or do they play more video games because they're better at navigating virtual environments?
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pls use tinyurl instead of altering existing urls
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B-b-but there is no difference between sexes. Science is misogynist.

Probably has something to do with hunting. Cut off the prey, or sneaking up on them.
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Did they really need a study for this?
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I just follow GPS for almost everything, anyway. Yes, I'll take faster routes if I do know them, though.
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waze > all
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SageHarpuia posted...

Did they really need a study for this?

Putting numbers behind common sense things is always a good thing
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