Acquisition of Route Network Knowledge by Males and Females

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Abstract
Male and female subjects were tested for spatial ability and were shown slides depicting pairs of intersecting suburban routes. They saw each route either one or three times. Pairs of test slides were then presented, and measures were taken of the judged angle and direct distance between the two scenes as well as of the time taken to make the judgment. In addition, subjects made judgments of the travel distances and placed target locations on a sketch map of the route network. The crucial comparison was between those judgments made across routes and those made within routes. Because these did not differ, it appeared that network knowledge had been acquired during original learning. Males were more accurate than females in angular judgment and in travel distance estimation. Further analysis of the angular estimates, using circular statistics, illustrated a tendency for females to underestimate the wider angles. The correlations between the various measures of spatial ability were low, suggesting task specificity.

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