Sex differences in home range and cognitive maps in eight-year old children |
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Authors: | Paul Webley |
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Institution: | University of Exeter, England |
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Abstract: | This study investigated the hypothesis that there is a sex difference in the extent of children's home ranges and therefore a corresponding difference in their home area cognitive maps. Cognitive maps were elicited using a road construction kit and the resulting maps scored for embedding, extent and detail. Home ranges were investigated using a photographic recognition test and by children indicating home range extent on aerial photographs. The results supported the hypothesis of a sex difference. However, these sex-related mapping differences disappeared when children were required to create maps of areas to which both sexes had limited and controlled exposure. Thus, the original sex-related differences appear to be associated with differences in the size of familiar territory rather than with any male superiority in spatial cognition or map-building ability. The latter was shown to be related to general intelligence as reflected by scores on Raven's Progressive Matrices. |
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