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Main Content
Internal Compass
This summer holiday, is it safer to trust the navigational skills of men or women?
Anyone who has travelled to an unknown city with a companion can relate to the inevitable dilemma of who is at fault for getting lost. When travel buddies happen to be of opposite sexes, the question often takes a turn for the gender inspired blame game. Women are accused of reading the map wrong, while men notoriously refuse to ask for directions.
Assuming that both statements are correct, is it a female's inability to interpret the one dimensional street grid to reality or a man's pride that is at the core of the problem? Perhaps human beings are just programmed to assume different roles that are inherent to the way our brains function?
Scientists at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and the Institute of Behavioural Sciences at the University College of London attempted to delve beyond the superficial presumptions assigned to the sexes and into the neurological signals that dictate these actions, hoping to shed some light on whether there is any scientific truth to the stereotypes.
All animals, humans included, are born with some basic instinctual triggers that are either activated immediately or become mobilized as the need arises. The awareness of space is one that is of especial interest as in contemporary society it falls into a gender debate. The assumption is that men are better at guiding the way, while women only serve as a distraction. A modern day Adam and Eve scenario where the women lead men off the right path, however, may not actually be a part of the genetic makeup that we are born with. According to the study, both sexes have the same basic tools for developing any navigational skills. Sense of place and direction develop within the first week, indicating that these are not part of the traits acquired from learning or experience. Males and females have a fair and equal start for tackling maps and distant lands. Unfortunately, the study has one downfall – its relationship to humans is strictly theoretical. Having been conducted on baby lab rats, the same development may not necessarily be true of other animals, particularly those who place a larger emphasis on nurturing.
Nurture over nature has its perks. While human beings have to put up with years of diapers, potty training and the dreaded teenage years, they also have central heating, cars and cell phones. Other animals obviously don't have access to modern amenities or technology, which may actually heighten their need for certain survival instincts that humans simply no longer require for survival. Though a sense of direction has not become completely archaic and unnecessary, it's justifiable to assume that the way in which humans use it today is drastically different from even half a century ago. With at least one mobile device in tow at any given time, many people have become reliant, if not addicted, to technology. Texting, picture messaging and phone calls are no novelty, but the ever evolving Smartphones have much more to offer. GPS applications are quite popular, as is the Google maps option available through any internet enabled mobile. Both features diminish not only the embarrassment of having to navigate a bulky map, but can also be updated in real time. In certain cities it is even possible to use Google maps to generate not only walking and driving directions, but also route options via the public transport.
Modern technology may not eliminate the need for being able to transfer data from a map to three-dimensional surroundings, but it does again even out the playing field for the sexes. Namely, while a University of East London study found that men are more likely to use compass directions and maintain the strict adherence to a map, women rely on landmarks at a much larger scale. Though there may be a question of efficiency that arises for the methods, in the end the study found that both groups were able to navigate and give directions clearly. With 41 million Blackberry users around the world and an iPhone frenzy spanning the globe, mobile devices cater to the cognitive abilities of each individual, and since both men and women are among the early adaptors to the technology, the question of who knows the right directions may be as archaic as the map itself.