Are women really born "road-crazy"?

Many people, including women, say that they are "road-crazy", have no sense of direction, and their ability to recognize the road is much worse than that of men. Some boys will laugh at this little shortcoming of girls, alas! What is the reason? Is it a congenital factor that really lacks this "talent" or a "self-fulfilling prophecy"? Do you think you are a road idiot, and then you really become one? Today, I will give an explanation to the majority of women who are said to be "road idiots"!

1. Women are born with a worse sense of direction than men?

The sense of direction we talk about in life is the consciousness of knowing "where am I", "where am I facing" and "which relative direction is my goal", and its professional description is called "spatial ability". Part of spatial ability is determined by congenital factors, and the other part is cultivated by acquired training, especially influenced by childhood training. For example, playing building block games in early childhood can effectively enhance children's spatial ability.

In the existing scientific research, a large number of data support a basically recognized conclusion: among humans and many animals, male animals (including humans, deer rats, meadow voles, rats and primate rhesus monkeys) have better spatial ability than female animals:

Therefore, statistically speaking, women's spatial ability is weaker than that of men, and it will be more difficult for women to find their own way. This shows the influence of congenital factors.

2. Space training the day after tomorrow will make your sense of direction invincible!

Although women's sense of direction is inherently weaker than men's, acquired exercise can also enhance their sense of direction. In fact, space ability needs continuous and long-term training and learning, and a person's space ability will change with his/her education and living ability: he/she may develop through continuous training and learning, or he/she may waste his/her space ability because he/she is away from such complex tasks for a long time. A person who is often in charge of leading the way in group travel will be constantly exercised and his space ability advantage will be greater and greater, which makes him more and more confident in leading the way in the future.

In addition, spatial ability is interrelated with other abilities, including mathematics, language, memory and logic. They contain and promote each other, so a person with higher education is more likely to have better spatial ability.

3. How should a woman who is called a "road idiot" fight back!

In fact, in the statistical data of men's and women's spatial ability, individual differences usually fluctuate greatly. In other words, this statistical conclusion hardly applies to individuals. In fact, it may be common for women with superior spatial ability to men. In addition, when looking for roads, some strategies will eliminate these statistical differences: men are more sensitive to spatial coordinates and directions, but when looking for roads, women can achieve the same efficiency by using strategies such as marking buildings.

So "road blindness" is partly due to the design of navigation software, which is more considered by men. Existing navigation software usually gives information such as distance, direction, left and right, but women are not sensitive to these things and it is difficult to understand. In short, women should avoid falling into the trap of "self-fulfilling prophecy", do not shy away when looking for ways, exercise more and have good spatial ability. Train yourself consciously, so that the next time a boy says you are a "road idiot", you can fight back and prove it to him. Actually, you have a strong sense of direction!

(Author: Dr. dewar, Max Planck Institute, China Academy of Sciences, please indicate that knowledge is power from WeChat official account)