Posted on 01/24/2005 9:01:14 AM PST by Rodney King
MEN frequently despair at women's map-reading skills - or rather their lack of them. Now scientists believe they have pinpointed the reason for this conflict between the sexes.
Researchers say it is all down to differences in the reliance of the sexes on either grey matter or white matter in their brains to solve problems. They found that in intelligence tests men use 6.5 times as much grey matter as women, but women use nine times as much white matter.
Grey matter is brain tissue crucial to processing information and plays a vital role in aiding skills such as mathematics, map-reading and intellectual thought.
White matter connects the brain's processing centres and is central to emotional thinking, use of language and the ability to do more than one thing at once.
Professor Rex Jung, a co-author of the study at the University of New Mexico, said: "This may help explain why men tend to excel in tasks requiring more local processing, like mathematics and map-reading, while women tend to excel at integrating information from various brain regions, such as is required for language skills.
"These two very different pathways and activity centres, however, result in equivalent overall performance on broad measures of cognitive ability, such as those found on intelligence tests."
Previous studies have shown that women have weaker spatial awareness than men, making it harder for them to read maps.
Research has also found that in childhood, girls' vocabulary develops more quickly and that in later life women can speak 20,000 to 25,000 words a day compared to a man's 7000 to 10,000.
For the study, published in the online edition of the journal NeuroImage, researchers performed a series of brain scans on 26 female and 22 male volunteers using magnetic resonance imaging equipment.
All the volunteers were in good health, had no history of brain injury and the average IQ scores of the two sexes were similar.
Their brains were scanned while they carried out tests designed to assess their general intelligence.
Researchers then created a map of a brain showing the varying levels of activity in the brains of men and women. About 40 per cent of the human brain is grey matter and 60 per cent white matter
EXCELLENT point...that's just what Mrs. Pharmboy and I do.
Why is it that men refuse to pay attention to road signs or landmarks? I've spent a lot of time in the co-pilot's seat saying "Honey, we need to take the next exit. Honey, we really need to get over so we can take the next exit. Honey, you do realize that we're almost to the exit? MIKE, WE JUST PASSED THE DA**ED EXIT THAT WE NEEDED TO TAKE!!!"
I thought the same thing.
I was the one with the perfect sense of direction in the family (believe me, hubby could get lost in the back yard) and was always the map-reader/navigators on trips.
I always thought it was the other way around. Like, the reason the Hebrews spent 40 years in the desert was because Moses refused to stop and ask for directions.
Well, it would certainly have to be, since it evidently points out that men and women aren't exactly alike.
And, as we all know, men love to shop for shoes and purses.
It's also fun to have (I did once a long time ago) have TWENTY TWO checks bounce in one month - at $20 a pop (and that's just the banks side). And many of those checks were for less than $10.
The ONLY time I write a check is if it is going into an envelope with a stamp on it.
#5
Hee hee, we talk a lot because we have a lot to say!!!!
If you're taught to read a map, you can read a map. If you can't read a map, you don't wanta. Years ago, if you were going on a trip, you had a map. Not everyone carried a map in the car but it's becoming more common
What drives me crazy is that men refuse to stop at the local garage and ask directions. They'd rather take the "scenic route" than admit "lost".
Just don't throw up until you're outside!
I think we just must fly in the face of lots of gender roles. I hate to shop; my husband loves it. He has to drag me into stores to shop for clothes then wait patiently for me to try them on while I basically tear them off and on and say "let's get out of here." He does most of the cooking while I read. Always reading--usually history and politics. He also teaches floral design, so he's the one who loves flowers. I would rather spend my money on books. Go figure.
I've never had a problem reading maps. It seems strange to me that anyone COULDN'T read one.
A few years ago I drove a friend to Savannah for a funeral. Neither of us knew where to go once we got there. While at a rest stop I picked up flyers for a number of places in Savannah, all with maps in them. I used the maps in the flyers to find my way around and got us where we needed to go. She made fun of me and my maps the whole time (in fun of course), but we didn't get lost.
~sigh~ We married brothers. "Honey, I think we are lost-- We are supposed to be heading due east to Charleston, the exit just said "Mobile" and the sun is setting right in front of us."
No kidding...
This woman is an excellent map reader. My husband has been trusting me with the maps and directions for 32 years. I have gotten us turned around exactly once in those years. We were out of state and it was cloudy, with no sun for reference.
Janet Reno! Is that you?
Ping.
I guess I'm using too much "grey matter." Can somebody please point out the punchline?
Thanks,
Mark
LOL! Although I will admit, I find it helpful to print out written directions for clarification. :) My husband does too, since he normally drives, so I can read off the printed directions when he doubts me.
ROFL!
>>My observation is that a lot of females are not too interested in maps, and are less likely to bother with something they don't care for.<<
Heh, heh. And men aren't too interested in talking...
Seriously, for the most part, people are most interested in what they do well.
I think a person with mediocre natural talent in an area can become quite proficient in that same area with the right trainer and enough hard work. Human beings have very capable brains.
I do think the whole thing is a generalization though, albeit a strong one. That said, men and women who do have the gift of carryover traits of the other sex do sort of have a leg-up against others of their sex. My ability to listen "like a woman" has paid off both professionally AND personally in far reaching ways.
Yes, dear.
See? I TOLD you this was a male bias! The assumption has to be if a woman can read a map she must be a JR wannabe?
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