User:Minding/Spatial Cognition

Spatial cognition is the mind's representation and processing of the structure of space, the entities within it, and their spatial relations. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=dnwkmQ1fuUAC&oi=fnd&pg=PA248&dq=spatial+cognition&ots=xm_8_BT1BM&sig=xfgzeJyr4yt0ZNavnGc0KmqOp9M#PPA248,M1

Sex-related differences refers to the biological distinction between men and women as determined by their genetic make up and reproductive differences.

Types of spatial tests
The Vandenberg-Kuse test of mental rotations, which utilizes the rotation of cubes, is a common method of testing spatial abilities. Variations of Vandenberg-Kuse are the Primary Mental Abilities tests which involve rotations of other objects such as flags and hands. Additional types of spatial visualization tests include embedded figure tests in which a simple object is embedded within a complex picture. There are also paper folding tests in which participants predict what a folded paper with holes in it will look like when it is unfolded, and Water Level tests in which the participants judge the water level in a tipped glass.

Tests within the physical environment, also referred to as ecological studies, encompass a broad range of wayfinding activities including orienteering, map reading and sketching, direction giving, and use of landmarks. Other tests based in the physical environment are estimating travel time, estimating distance between points, placing buildings on maps and directional orientation.

Results
Studies using traditional and computer based testing methods typically show that men have superior spatial abilities for some tasks and women have superior abilities for others. Evidence varies widely depending on the design and conditions of studies performed and types of tasks involved. For example, men on average are faster and more accurate with mental rotation and waterline tasks (Choi et al. 2006). Women are on average superior at finding an object in an embedded picture (Devlin 2001).

Results from studies conducted in the physical environment are less conclusive about sex differences, with various studies on the same task showing differences. For example, often men are better at wayfinding but there are studies that show no difference (Devlin 2001). Men tend to learn an environment faster and are better at finding a route to a new location. They also tend to choose a more direct route. Men also report having a better sense of direction and are more confident about finding their way in a new environment but evidence does not support men having better map reading skills (Montello et al. 1999). Women have been found to use landmarks more often when giving directions and when describing routes (Miller and Santoni 1986). Additionally, studies show women are better at recalling where objects are located in a physical environment (Montello et al. 1999).

Evolutionary explanation
Several evolutionary hypotheses have been proposed to explain sex differences in spatial cognition (Jones and Healy 2006). One of the most widely discussed is the hypothesis that spatial cognitive differences evolved from a division of labor between males and females when obtaining food relied on hunting and gathering (Eals and Silverman 1992). Males hunted while females gathered and cared for offspring. Eals and Silverman propose that by hunting, men had a larger home range and those with better abilities for orienting, judging distance and finding one’s way were favored by natural selection because they were more successful in killing prey. In contrast, because women stayed closer to home to care for young children, they gathered food and therefore natural selection favored those with skills for remembering locations of food sources in relation to objects and other features. Their studies verifying female advantage in location memory (Eals and Silverman 1994) were further supported by a study where foods were used as the objects for location recall in a real environment (New et al. 2007).