Ladies, you may often hear or read the grapevine that "women can't read maps." Many stories and experiences of people ranging from funny to annoying about this. Are you also one of them?
In fact, not a few women are more easily lost when reading or following map guides on the way. Even so, not all women can't read maps! So what makes it difficult for most women to read maps?
Differences in spatial intelligence
So according to research conducted by the University of Illinois in the United States, one of the reasons women find it difficult to read and understand maps is differences in spatial abilities. According to research, men do have higher spatial abilities. Then what's the connection? So, these spatial abilities make it easier for us to understand the relationship between objects and space (or place) better. Hormonal factors also influence it. The level of the male hormone testosterone is higher than that of the female, making it superior in navigation. This hypothesis has been carried out in further studies where women who were given the addition of the hormone testosterone increased their navigational abilities.
Strategy difference
According to Carl Pintzka, a researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), it turns out that there are strategic differences between men and women in terms of navigation. The male brain focuses more on navigating to a destination based on the direction of the road or the cardinal directions. Whereas most of the way women's brains work in navigation is to see the destination by memorizing the route. According to Pintzka, seeing the cardinal directions in achieving goals will be more effective than memorizing them.
Another reason women find it more difficult to read maps, according to Pintzka, is that differences in brain performance in reading maps are also determined by which part of the brain is working. Men tend to use the hippocampus part of the brain, which is part of the cerebrum that plays a role in the ability to remember spatial navigation. Meanwhile, women use the frontal lobe, which is part of the brain that controls movement, speech, memory, behavior, personality, and emotions. Parts of the frontal lobe also play a role in intellectual functions such as planning, reasoning, problem-solving, and decision-making. This part of the brain excels in remembering and memorizing space. This is also why women struggle to separate emotions (feelings) from other things.
According to a journal published in Frontier, women's ability to read space is also lacking because women are more vulnerable to emotions, and women's parahippocampal gyrus works less efficiently than men's.
Differences in the construction of brain performance
The Minds Journal revealed that women find it difficult to read maps because a woman's brain has a neuron bridge between the right and left brains of the cerebrum, while men don't. As a result, men are less able to do various jobs simultaneously, aka multitasking. On the other hand, because the working parts of the right and left brain are connected, it is easier for women's minds to overlap, making it more difficult to read maps.
But Ladies, you don't need to worry because this can be trained! Even though most of the reasons above are biological, the ability to read maps and navigation can be honed, especially if you use them frequently. Ladies, who don't want to be called bad at reading maps anymore, let's practice more! Fighting!