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Joue G, Navarro-Schröder T, Achtzehn J, Moffat S, Hennies N, Fuß J, Döller C, Wolbers T, Sommer T. Effects of estrogen on spatial navigation and memory. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2024; 241:1037-1063. [PMID: 38407638 PMCID: PMC11031496 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-024-06539-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2023] [Accepted: 01/19/2024] [Indexed: 02/27/2024]
Abstract
RATIONALE Animal studies suggest that the so-called "female" hormone estrogen enhances spatial navigation and memory. This contradicts the observation that males generally out-perform females in spatial navigation and tasks involving spatial memory. A closer look at the vast number of studies actually reveals that performance differences are not so clear. OBJECTIVES To help clarify the unclear performance differences between men and women and the role of estrogen, we attempted to isolate organizational from activational effects of estrogen on spatial navigation and memory. METHODS In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, we tested the effects of orally administered estradiol valerate (E2V) in healthy, young women in their low-hormone menstrual cycle phase, compared to healthy, young men. Participants performed several first-person, environmentally rich, 3-D computer games inspired by spatial navigation and memory paradigms in animal research. RESULTS We found navigation behavior suggesting that sex effects dominated any E2 effects with men performing better with allocentric strategies and women with egocentric strategies. Increased E2 levels did not lead to general improvements in spatial ability in either sex but to behavioral changes reflecting navigation flexibility. CONCLUSION Estrogen-driven differences in spatial cognition might be better characterized on a spectrum of navigation flexibility rather than by categorical performance measures or skills.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gina Joue
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistraße 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany.
| | - Tobias Navarro-Schröder
- Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Olav Kyrres Gate 9, 7030, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Johannes Achtzehn
- Department of Neurology with Experimental Neurology (CVK), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Scott Moffat
- School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, 654 Cherry Street, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
| | - Nora Hennies
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistraße 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Johannes Fuß
- Institute of Forensic Psychiatry and Sex Research, University Duisburg-Essen, Hohlweg 26, 45147, Essen, Germany
| | - Christian Döller
- Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Olav Kyrres Gate 9, 7030, Trondheim, Norway
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße 1a, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Thomas Wolbers
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Leipziger Straße 44, 39120, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Tobias Sommer
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistraße 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany
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2
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Uttal DH, McKee K, Simms N, Hegarty M, Newcombe NS. How Can We Best Assess Spatial Skills? Practical and Conceptual Challenges. J Intell 2024; 12:8. [PMID: 38248906 PMCID: PMC10816932 DOI: 10.3390/jintelligence12010008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2023] [Revised: 10/26/2023] [Accepted: 12/21/2023] [Indexed: 01/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Spatial thinking skills are associated with performance, persistence, and achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) school subjects. Because STEM knowledge and skills are integral to developing a well-trained workforce within and beyond STEM, spatial skills have become a major focus of cognitive, developmental, and educational research. However, these efforts are greatly hampered by the current lack of access to reliable, valid, and well-normed spatial tests. Although there are hundreds of spatial tests, they are often hard to access and use, and information about their psychometric properties is frequently lacking. Additional problems include (1) substantial disagreement about what different spatial tests measure-even two tests with similar names may measure very different constructs; (2) the inability to measure some STEM-relevant spatial skills by any existing tests; and (3) many tests only being available for specific age groups. The first part of this report delineates these problems, as documented in a series of structured and open-ended interviews and surveys with colleagues. The second part outlines a roadmap for addressing the problems. We present possibilities for developing shared testing systems that would allow researchers to test many participants through the internet. We discuss technological innovations, such as virtual reality, which could facilitate the testing of navigation and other spatial skills. Developing a bank of testing resources will empower researchers and educators to explore and support spatial thinking in their disciplines, as well as drive the development of a comprehensive and coherent theoretical understanding of spatial thinking.
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Affiliation(s)
- David H. Uttal
- Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
| | - Kiley McKee
- Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
| | - Nina Simms
- Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
| | - Mary Hegarty
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
| | - Nora S. Newcombe
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA
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3
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Hults CM, Francis RC, Clint EK, Smith W, Sober ER, Garland T, Rhodes JS. Still little evidence sex differences in spatial navigation are evolutionary adaptations. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2024; 11:231532. [PMID: 38234440 PMCID: PMC10791541 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.231532] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2023] [Accepted: 12/20/2023] [Indexed: 01/19/2024]
Abstract
A putative male advantage in wayfinding ability is the most widely documented sex difference in human cognition and has also been observed in other animals. The common interpretation, the sex-specific adaptation hypothesis, posits that this male advantage evolved as an adaptive response to sex differences in home range size. A previous study a decade ago tested this hypothesis by comparing sex differences in home range size and spatial ability among 11 species and found no relationship. However, the study was limited by the small sample size, the lack of species with a larger female home range and the lack of non-Western human data. The present study represents an update that addresses all of these limitations, including data from 10 more species and from human subsistence cultures. Consistent with the previous result, we found little evidence that sex differences in spatial navigation and home range size are related. We conclude that sex differences in spatial ability are more likely due to experiential factors and/or unselected biological side effects, rather than functional outcomes of natural selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Connor M. Hults
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, 603 E. Daniel St., Champaign, IL 61820, USA
| | | | - Edward K. Clint
- Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Oregon Institute of Technology, Klamath Falls, OR, USA
| | - Winter Smith
- Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Oregon Institute of Technology, Klamath Falls, OR, USA
| | - Elliott R. Sober
- Department of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Theodore Garland
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA
| | - Justin S. Rhodes
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, 603 E. Daniel St., Champaign, IL 61820, USA
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4
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Schug MG, Barhorst-Cates E, Stefanucci J, Creem-Regehr S, Olsen APL, Cashdan E. Childhood Experience Reduces Gender Differences in Spatial Abilities: A Cross-Cultural Study. Cogn Sci 2022; 46:e13096. [PMID: 35122311 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.13096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2021] [Revised: 08/26/2021] [Accepted: 12/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Spatial experience in childhood is a factor in the development of spatial abilities. In this study, we assessed whether American and Faroese participants' (N = 246, Mage = 19.31 years, 151 females) early spatial experience and adult spatial outcomes differed by gender and culture, and if early experience was related to adult performance and behavior. Participants completed retrospective reports on their childhood spatial experience, both large-scale (permitted childhood range size) and small-scale (Lego play). They also completed assessments of their current large-scale spatial behavior (navigational strategy) and small-scale ability (mental rotation task, MRT). We replicated earlier results showing better MRT performance among males and more reliance by males on orientation navigational strategies, although males and females reported similar ranges as children. However, there were cross-cultural differences, with Faroese having larger childhood ranges, less reliance on route strategies, better MRT scores, and a smaller gender difference in MRT. Larger permitted childhood ranges were associated with reduced use of route strategies for navigation in adulthood, and greater Lego play in childhood predicted better MRT performance as adults. There was also some evidence supporting relationships across spatial scales, with more Lego play predicting an orientation style of navigation and larger childhood ranges predicting better performance on the MRT, although the latter was not independent of country. In sum, we observed an association in both cultures between large-scale childhood experience and large-scale behavior in adulthood, small-scale experience in childhood and adult small-scale performance, and some associations between experience and behavior across spatial scales.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Anna P L Olsen
- Faculty of History and Social Sciences, University of the Faroe Islands
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5
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Imaginary worlds are attractive because they simulate multiple adaptive problems and encode real-world information. Behav Brain Sci 2022; 45:e301. [DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x21002399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Organisms don't explore for exploration's sake: exploratory psychology is regulated by inputs from multiple adaptations dedicated to processing information from different domains of ancestral adaptive relevance. As holistic representations of environments, imaginary worlds simulate multiple adaptive problems, solutions, and outcomes, thereby engaging numerous emotional systems and providing potentially useful information. Their popularity is thus best understood in terms of the full spectrum of information domains they comprise.
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6
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Geary DC. Spatial ability as a distinct domain of human cognition: An evolutionary perspective. INTELLIGENCE 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2021.101616] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
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7
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Davis JTM, Robertson E, Lew‐Levy S, Neldner K, Kapitany R, Nielsen M, Hines M. Cultural Components of Sex Differences in Color Preference. Child Dev 2021; 92:1574-1589. [PMID: 33476046 PMCID: PMC8451877 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13528] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Preferences for pink and blue were tested in children aged 4-11 years in three small-scale societies: Shipibo villages in the Peruvian Amazon, kastom villages in the highlands of Tanna Island, Vanuatu, and BaYaka foragers in the northern Republic of Congo; and compared to children from an Australian global city (total N = 232). No sex differences were found in preference for pink in any of the three societies not influenced by global culture (ds - 0.31-0.23), in contrast to a female preference for pink in the global city (d = 1.24). Results suggest that the pairing of female and pink is a cultural phenomenon and is not driven by an essential preference for pink in girls.
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Crittenden AN, Farahani A, Herlosky KN, Pollom TR, Mabulla IA, Ruginski IT, Cashdan E. Harm Avoidance and Mobility During Middle Childhood and Adolescence among Hadza Foragers. HUMAN NATURE-AN INTERDISCIPLINARY BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE 2021; 32:150-176. [PMID: 33945076 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-021-09390-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Cross-cultural sex differences in mobility and harm avoidance have been widely reported, often emphasizing fitness benefits of long-distance travel for males and high costs for females. Data emerging from adults in small-scale societies, however, are challenging the assumption that female mobility is restricted during reproduction. Such findings warrant further exploration of the ontogeny of mobility. Here, using a combination of machine-learning, mixed-effects linear regression, and GIS mapping, we analyze range size, daily distance traveled, and harm avoidance among Hadza foragers during middle childhood and adolescence. Distance traveled increased with age and, while male adolescents had the longest daily ranges, average daily distance traveled by each sex was similar. We found few age- or sex-related patterns in harm-avoidant responses and a high degree of individual variation. When queried on the same issues, children and their parents were often in alignment as to expectations pertaining to harm avoidance, and siblings tended to behave in similar ways. To the extent that sex differences in mobility did emerge, they were associated with ecological differences in physical threats associated with sex-specific foraging behaviors. Further, we found no strong association between harm avoidance and mobility. Young Hadza foragers of both sexes are highly mobile, regardless of how harm avoidant they are. Taken together, our findings indicate that the causal arrows between harm avoidance and mobility must be evaluated in ecologically specific frameworks where cultural expectations of juvenile mobility can be contextualized.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Alan Farahani
- Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, USA
| | | | - Trevor R Pollom
- Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, USA
| | | | - Ian T Ruginski
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
- Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Elizabeth Cashdan
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
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Cultural Change Reduces Gender Differences in Mobility and Spatial Ability among Seminomadic Pastoralist-Forager Children in Northern Namibia. HUMAN NATURE-AN INTERDISCIPLINARY BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE 2021; 32:178-206. [PMID: 33886079 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-021-09388-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/03/2021] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
A fundamental cognitive function found across a wide range of species and necessary for survival is the ability to navigate complex environments. It has been suggested that mobility may play an important role in the development of spatial skills. Despite evolutionary arguments offering logical explanations for why sex/gender differences in spatial abilities and mobility might exist, thus far there has been limited sampling from nonindustrialized and subsistence-based societies. This lack of sampling diversity has left many unanswered questions regarding the effects that environmental variation and cultural norms may have in shaping mobility patterns during childhood and the development of spatial competencies that may be associated with it. Here we examine variation in mobility (through GPS tracking and interviews), performance on large-scale spatial skills (i.e., navigational ability), and performance on small-scale spatial skills (e.g., mental rotation task, Corsi blocks task, and water-level task) among Twa forager/pastoralist children whose daily lives have been dramatically altered since settlement and the introduction of government-funded boarding schools. Unlike in previous findings among Twa adults, boys and girls (N = 88; aged 6-18) show similar patterns of travel on all measures of mobility. We also find no significant differences in spatial task performance by gender for large- or small-scale spatial skills. Further, children performed as well as adults did on mental rotation, and they outperformed adults on the water-level task. We discuss how children's early learning environments may influence the development of both large- and small-scale spatial skills.
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10
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Pisor AC, Jones JH. Do people manage climate risk through long-distance relationships? Am J Hum Biol 2020; 33:e23525. [PMID: 33103823 DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.23525] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2020] [Revised: 10/08/2020] [Accepted: 10/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Long-distance social relationships have been a feature of human evolutionary history; evidence from the paleoanthropological, archeological, and ethnographic records suggest that one function of these relationships is to manage the risk of resource shortfalls due to climate variability. We should expect long-distance relationships to be especially important when shortfalls are chronic or temporally positively autocorrelated, as these are more likely to exhaust local adaptations for managing risk. Further, individuals who experience shortfalls not as rare shocks, but as patterned events, should be more likely to pay the costs of maintaining long-distance relationships. We test these hypotheses in the context of two communities of Bolivian horticulturalists, where climate variability-especially precipitation variability-is relevant to production and access to long-distance connections is improving. METHODS Data on individuals' migration histories, social relationships, and other relevant variables were collected in 2017 (n = 119). Precipitation data were obtained from the US National Center for Atmospheric Research, allowing us to estimate participants' exposure to drought and excess precipitation. RESULTS Exposure duration, proximity in time, and frequency did not predict having a greater number of long-distance relationships. Males, extraverted individuals, and those who had traveled more did have more long-distance relationships, however. CONCLUSION Another function of long-distance relationships is to access resources that can never be obtained locally; ethnographic data suggest this is their primary function in rural Bolivia. We conclude by refining our predictions about the conditions under which long-distance relationships are likely to help individuals manage the risks posed by climate variability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne C Pisor
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA.,Department of Human Behavior, Ecology, and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - James Holland Jones
- Department of Earth System Science, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
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11
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Barhorst-Cates EM, Creem-Regehr SH, Stefanucci JK, Gardner J, Saccomano T, Wright C. Spatial Reference Frame but Neither Age nor Gender Predict Performance on a Water-Level Task in 8- to 11-Year-Old Children. Perception 2020; 49:1200-1212. [PMID: 33040663 DOI: 10.1177/0301006620964414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Successful performance on the water-level task, a common measure of spatial perception, requires adopting an environmental, rather than object-centered, spatial frame of reference. Use of this strategy has not been systematically studied in prepubertal children, a developmental period during which individual differences in spatial abilities start to emerge. In this study, children aged 8 to 11 reported their age and gender, completed a paper-and-pencil water-level task, and drew a map of their neighborhood to assess spontaneous choice of spatial frame of reference. Results showed a surprising lack of age or gender difference in water-level performance, but a significant effect of spatial frame of reference. Although they made up only a small portion of the sample, children who drew allocentric maps had the highest water-level score, with very high accuracy. These results suggest that children who adopt environmental-based reference frames when depicting their familiar environment may also use environmental-based reference frame strategies to solve spatial perception tasks, thereby facilitating highly accurate performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erica M Barhorst-Cates
- Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute, United States.,University of Utah, United States
| | | | | | - Jean Gardner
- Salt Lake City School District, United States.,University of Utah, United States
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12
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Clemenson GD, Wang L, Mao Z, Stark SM, Stark CEL. Exploring the Spatial Relationships Between Real and Virtual Experiences: What Transfers and What Doesn't. FRONTIERS IN VIRTUAL REALITY 2020; 1:572122. [PMID: 37885756 PMCID: PMC10602022 DOI: 10.3389/frvir.2020.572122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2023]
Abstract
Virtual environments are commonly used to assess spatial cognition in humans. For the past few decades, researchers have used virtual environments to investigate how people navigate, learn, and remember their surrounding environment. In combination with tools such as electroencephalogram, neuroimaging, and electrophysiology, these virtual environments have proven invaluable in their ability to help elucidate the underlying neural mechanisms of spatial learning and memory in humans. However, a critical assumption that is made whenever using virtual experiences is that the spatial abilities used in the navigation of these virtual environments accurately represents the spatial abilities used in the real-world. The aim of the current study is to investigate the spatial relationships between real and virtual environments to better understand how well the virtual experiences parallel the same experiences in the real-world. Here, we performed three independent experiments to examine whether spatial information about object location, environment layout, and navigation strategy transfers between parallel real-world and virtual-world experiences. We show that while general spatial information does transfer between real and virtual environments, there are several limitations of the virtual experience. Compared to the real-world, the use of information in the virtual-world is less flexible, especially when testing spatial memory from a novel location, and the way in which we navigate these experiences are different as the perceptual and proprioceptive feedback gained from the real-world experience can influence navigation strategy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gregory D. Clemenson
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - Lulian Wang
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - Zeqian Mao
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - Shauna M. Stark
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
| | - Craig E. L. Stark
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States
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Sabiniewicz A, Karwowski M, Löckenhoff CE, Borkowska B, Sorokowski P. Short- and long-term memory and age in a traditional tribe (Dani of Papua) and a modern population (Poland). Acta Ethol 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s10211-020-00348-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
AbstractThe different environmental conditions in which people live might challenge memory in different ways. Moreover, the frequency of usage can be a source of improvement of both short- and long-term memory. The aim of our study was to investigate the effects of environmental differences on short- and long-term memory in a traditional versus a contemporary population (Dani of Papua, n = 62; Polish, n = 134). We found that both short- and long-term memory varied in the two populations, living in totally distinct surroundings. However, there were no age differences between Polish and Dani participants in either short- or long-term memory tasks, indicating that culture was not a significant moderator of the memory differences between populations. The differences in short- and long-term memory between the two populations are consistent with the argument that short-term memory plays a more significant role in contemporary societies because of technical developments, the electronic revolution, and reading ability. The lack of an age difference appears to support the assumption that it is age, not culture, that plays a crucial role in the memory performance.
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14
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Davis HE, Cashdan E. Spatial cognition, navigation, and mobility among children in a forager-horticulturalist population, the Tsimané of Bolivia. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2019.100800] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
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15
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Jang H, Boesch C, Mundry R, Ban SD, Janmaat KRL. Travel linearity and speed of human foragers and chimpanzees during their daily search for food in tropical rainforests. Sci Rep 2019; 9:11066. [PMID: 31363113 PMCID: PMC6667462 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-47247-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2019] [Accepted: 07/03/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
To understand the evolutionary roots of human spatial cognition, researchers have compared spatial abilities of humans and one of our closest living relatives, the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). However, how humans and chimpanzees compare in solving spatial tasks during real-world foraging is unclear to date, as measuring such spatial abilities in natural habitats is challenging. Here we compared spatial movement patterns of the Mbendjele BaYaka people and the Taï chimpanzees during their daily search for food in rainforests. We measured linearity and speed during off-trail travels toward out-of-sight locations as proxies for spatial knowledge. We found similarly high levels of linearity in individuals of Mbendjele foragers and Taï chimpanzees. However, human foragers and chimpanzees clearly differed in their reactions to group size and familiarity with the foraging areas. Mbendjele foragers increased travel linearity with increasing familiarity and group size, without obvious changes in speed. This pattern was reversed in Taï chimpanzees. We suggest that these differences between Mbendjele foragers and Taï chimpanzees reflect their different ranging styles, such as life-time range size and trail use. This result highlights the impact of socio-ecological settings on comparing spatial movement patterns. Our study provides a first step toward comparing long-range spatial movement patterns of two closely-related species in their natural environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haneul Jang
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Christophe Boesch
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Wild Chimpanzee Foundation, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
| | - Roger Mundry
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Simone D Ban
- Wild Chimpanzee Foundation, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
| | - Karline R L Janmaat
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, Faculty of Science, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Jang H, Boesch C, Mundry R, Kandza V, Janmaat KRL. Sun, age and test location affect spatial orientation in human foragers in rainforests. Proc Biol Sci 2019; 286:20190934. [PMID: 31337316 PMCID: PMC6661361 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.0934] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2019] [Accepted: 07/02/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to know the direction of food sources is important for the foraging success of hunter-gatherers, especially in rainforests where dense vegetation limits visual detection distances. Besides sex and age, prior experience with the environment and the use of environmental cues are known to influence orientation abilities of humans. Among environmental cues, the position of the sun in the sky is important for orientation of diurnal animal species. However, whether or to what extent humans use the sun is largely unknown. Here, we investigated orientation abilities of the Mbendjele BaYaka people in the Republic of Congo, by conducting pointing tests (Nparticipants = 54, age: 6-76 years) in different locations in the rainforest. The Mbendjele were overall highly accurate at pointing to out-of-sight targets (median error: 6°). Pointing accuracy increased with age, but sex did not affect accuracy. Crucially, sun visibility increased pointing accuracy in young participants, especially when they were far from the camp. However, this effect became less apparent in older participants who exhibited high pointing accuracy, also when the sun was not visible. This study extends our understandings of orientation abilities of human foragers and provides the first behavioural evidence for sun compass use in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haneul Jang
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Christophe Boesch
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Roger Mundry
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Vidrich Kandza
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Institut de Recherche en Sciences Exactes et Naturelles, Brazzaville, the Republic of Congo
| | - Karline R. L. Janmaat
- Department of Primatology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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18
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Archer J. The reality and evolutionary significance of human psychological sex differences. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2019; 94:1381-1415. [DOI: 10.1111/brv.12507] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2017] [Revised: 02/14/2019] [Accepted: 02/21/2019] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- John Archer
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of Central Lancashire Preston Lancashire PR1 2HE U.K
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Coutrot A, Schmidt S, Coutrot L, Pittman J, Hong L, Wiener JM, Hölscher C, Dalton RC, Hornberger M, Spiers HJ. Virtual navigation tested on a mobile app is predictive of real-world wayfinding navigation performance. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0213272. [PMID: 30883560 PMCID: PMC6422266 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0213272] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2018] [Accepted: 02/19/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Virtual reality environments presented on tablets and smartphones have potential to aid the early diagnosis of conditions such as Alzheimer’s dementia by quantifying impairments in navigation performance. However, it is unclear whether performance on mobile devices can predict navigation errors in the real world. We compared the performance of 49 participants (25 females, 18-35 years old) at wayfinding and path integration tasks designed in our mobile app ‘Sea Hero Quest’ with their performance at similar tasks in a real-world environment. We first performed this experiment in the streets of London (UK) and replicated it in Paris (France). In both cities, we found a significant correlation between virtual and real-world wayfinding performance and a male advantage in both environments, although smaller in the real world (Cohen’s d in the game = 0.89, in the real world = 0.59). Results in London and Paris were highly similar, and controlling for familiarity with video games did not change the results. The strength of the correlation between real world and virtual environment increased with the difficulty of the virtual wayfinding task, indicating that Sea Hero Quest does not merely capture video gaming skills. The fact that the Sea Hero Quest wayfinding task has real-world ecological validity constitutes a step toward controllable, sensitive, safe, low-cost, and easy to administer digital cognitive assessment of navigation ability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antoine Coutrot
- Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Experimental Psychology, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Numérique de Nantes - CNRS - Université de Nantes, Nantes, France
- * E-mail: (AC); (MH); (HS)
| | - Sophie Schmidt
- Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Experimental Psychology, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Lena Coutrot
- Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Experimental Psychology, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- Institut Jean Nicod, ENS, EHESS, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Jessica Pittman
- Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Experimental Psychology, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Lynn Hong
- Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Experimental Psychology, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Jan M. Wiener
- Department of Psychology, Ageing and Dementia Research Centre, Bournemouth University, Poole, United Kingdom
| | | | - Ruth C. Dalton
- Department of Architecture and Built Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
| | - Michael Hornberger
- Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (AC); (MH); (HS)
| | - Hugo J. Spiers
- Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Experimental Psychology, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (AC); (MH); (HS)
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Stibbard-Hawkes DN, Attenborough RD, Marlowe FW. A noisy signal: To what extent are Hadza hunting reputations predictive of actual hunting skills? EVOL HUM BEHAV 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
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21
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Caffò AO, Lopez A, Spano G, Serino S, Cipresso P, Stasolla F, Savino M, Lancioni GE, Riva G, Bosco A. Spatial reorientation decline in aging: the combination of geometry and landmarks. Aging Ment Health 2018; 22:1372-1383. [PMID: 28726502 DOI: 10.1080/13607863.2017.1354973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The study is focused on the assessment of reorientation skills in a sample of community-dwelling elderly people, manipulating landmarks and geometric (layout) information. METHOD A neuropsychological assessment was administered to 286 elderly participants, divided into six groups (healthy controls, HC; four subgroups of participants with mild cognitive impairment, MCI; participants with probable dementia, Prob_D) and tested with the Virtual Reorientation Test (VReoT). VReoT manipulated different spatial cues: geometry and landmarks (proximal and distal). RESULT Compared with HC, participants with MCI and Prob_D showed to be impaired in tasks involving geometry, landmarks and a combination of them. Both single and multiple domain impairment in MCI had an impact on reorientation performance. Moreover, VReoT was marginally able to discriminate between amnesic and non-amnesic MCI. The occurrence of getting lost events seemed to be associated to learning of geometric information. CONCLUSION The associative strength between landmark and target plays an important role in affecting spatial orientation performance of cognitively impaired participants. Geometry significantly supports landmark information and becomes helpful with the increase of cognitive impairment which is linked to a decrement in landmark encoding. VReoT seems to represent a reliable evaluation supplement for spatial orientation deficits in prodromal stages of dementia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro O Caffò
- a Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication , University of Studies of Bari , Bari , Italy
| | - Antonella Lopez
- a Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication , University of Studies of Bari , Bari , Italy
| | - Giuseppina Spano
- a Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication , University of Studies of Bari , Bari , Italy
| | - Silvia Serino
- b Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab , IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano , Milan , Italy.,c Department of Psychology , Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore , Milan , Italy
| | - Pietro Cipresso
- c Department of Psychology , Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore , Milan , Italy
| | - Fabrizio Stasolla
- d Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neuroscience and Sense Organs , University of Studies of Bari , Bari , Italy
| | - Michelina Savino
- a Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication , University of Studies of Bari , Bari , Italy
| | - Giulio E Lancioni
- d Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neuroscience and Sense Organs , University of Studies of Bari , Bari , Italy
| | - Giuseppe Riva
- b Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab , IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano , Milan , Italy.,c Department of Psychology , Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore , Milan , Italy
| | - Andrea Bosco
- a Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication , University of Studies of Bari , Bari , Italy
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22
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Geary DC. Evolutionary perspective on sex differences in the expression of neurological diseases. Prog Neurobiol 2018; 176:33-53. [PMID: 29890214 DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2018.06.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2017] [Revised: 04/25/2018] [Accepted: 06/05/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Sex-specific brain and cognitive deficits emerge with malnutrition, some infectious and neurodegenerative diseases, and often with prenatal or postnatal toxin exposure. These deficits are described in disparate literatures and are generally not linked to one another. Sexual selection may provide a unifying framework that integrates our understanding of these deficits and provides direction for future studies of sex-specific vulnerabilities. Sexually selected traits are those that have evolved to facilitate competition for reproductive resources or that influence mate choices, and are often larger and more complex than other traits. Critically, malnutrition, disease, chronic social stress, and exposure to man-made toxins compromise the development and expression of sexually selected traits more strongly than that of other traits. The fundamental mechanism underlying vulnerability might be the efficiency of mitochondrial energy capture and control of oxidative stress that in turn links these traits to current advances in neuroenergetics, stress endocrinology, and toxicology. The key idea is that the elaboration of these cognitive abilities, with more underlying gray matter or more extensive inter-modular white matter connections, makes them particularly sensitive to disruptions in mitochondrial functioning and oxidative stress. A framework of human sexually selected cognitive abilities and underlying brain systems is proposed and used to organize what is currently known about sex-specific vulnerabilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- David C Geary
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Interdisciplinary Neuroscience, University of Missouri, MO, 65211-2500, Columbia, United States.
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23
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Sex differences after environmental enrichment and physical exercise in rats when solving a navigation task. Learn Behav 2018; 44:227-38. [PMID: 26511132 DOI: 10.3758/s13420-015-0200-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
The effects of early environmental enrichment (EE) and voluntary wheel running on the preference for using a landmark or pool geometry when solving a simple spatial task in adult male and female rats were assessed. After weaning, rats were housed in same-sex pairs in enriched or standard cages (EE and control groups) for two and a half months. Then the rats were trained in a triangular-shaped pool to find a hidden platform whose location was defined in terms of these two sources of information, a landmark outside the pool and a particular corner of the pool. As expected, enriched rats reached the platform faster than control animals, and males and females did not differ. Enriched rats also performed better on subsequent test trials without the platform with the cues individually presented (either pool geometry or landmark). However, on a preference test without the platform, a clear sex difference was found: Females spent more time in an area of the pool that corresponded to the landmark, whereas males spent more time in the distinctive corner of the pool. The present EE protocol did not alter females' preference for the landmark cue. The results agree with the claim that environmental enrichment is a consequence of a reduced anxiety response (measured by thigmotaxis) during cognitive testing. A possible implication of ancestral selection pressures is discussed.
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Oliveira S, Fehn AM, Aço T, Lages F, Gayà-Vidal M, Pakendorf B, Stoneking M, Rocha J. Matriclans shape populations: Insights from the Angolan Namib Desert into the maternal genetic history of southern Africa. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2018; 165:518-535. [PMID: 29313877 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23378] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2017] [Revised: 11/17/2017] [Accepted: 12/09/2017] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Southern Angola is a poorly studied region, inhabited by populations that have been associated with different migratory movements into southern Africa. Apart from Kx'a-speaking San foragers and Bantu-speaking pastoralists, ethnographic and linguistic studies have suggested the existence of an enigmatic array of pre-Bantu communities, like the Kwepe (formerly Khoe-Kwadi speakers), Twa and Kwisi. Here, we evaluate previous peopling hypotheses by assessing the relationships between different southern Angolan populations, based on newly collected linguistic data and complete mtDNA genomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS We analyzed 295 complete mtDNA genomes and linguistic data from seven groups from the Namib Desert (Himba, Kuvale, Tjimba, Twa, Kwisi, Kwepe) and Kunene Province (!Xun), placing special emphasis on the evaluation of the genealogical consistency of the matriclanic system that characterizes most of these groups. RESULTS We found that the maternal genetic structure of all groups from the Namib Desert was strongly shaped by the consistency of their matriclanic system. The tracking of the maternal heritage enhanced population differentiation by genetic drift and is likely to have caused the divergent mtDNA profiles of the Kwepe, Twa, and Kwisi, who probably formed a single population within the spectrum of Bantu genetic variation. Model-based analyses further suggest that the dominant pastoral groups Kuvale and Himba may be grouped into a Bantu proto-population which also included the ancestors of present-day Tjimba and Herero, as well as the Khoe-Kwadi speaking Damara foragers from Namibia. DISCUSSION The view from southwestern Angola offers a new perspective on the populating history of southern Africa and the Bantu expansions by showing that social stratification and different subsistence patterns are not always indicative of remnant groups, but may reflect Bantu-internal variation and ethnogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Oliveira
- CIBIO/InBIO: Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, Vairão 4485-661, Portugal.,Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Porto 4169-007, Portugal
| | - Anne-Maria Fehn
- CIBIO/InBIO: Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, Vairão 4485-661, Portugal.,Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany.,Institute for African Studies, Goethe University, Frankfurt 60323, Germany
| | - Teresa Aço
- Centro de Estudos do Deserto (CEDO), Namibe, Angola
| | - Fernanda Lages
- ISCED/Huíla-Instituto Superior de Ciências da Educação, Lubango, Angola
| | - Magdalena Gayà-Vidal
- CIBIO/InBIO: Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, Vairão 4485-661, Portugal
| | - Brigitte Pakendorf
- Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage, UMR5596, CNRS & Université Lyon, Lyon 69007, France
| | - Mark Stoneking
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Jorge Rocha
- CIBIO/InBIO: Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, Vairão 4485-661, Portugal.,Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Porto 4169-007, Portugal.,ISCED/Huíla-Instituto Superior de Ciências da Educação, Lubango, Angola
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25
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26
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Fisher ML, Meredith T, Gray M. Sex Differences in Mental Rotation Ability Are a Consequence of Procedure and Artificiality of Stimuli. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/s40806-017-0120-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
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27
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Saulton A, Bülthoff HH, de la Rosa S, Dodds TJ. Cultural differences in room size perception. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0176115. [PMID: 28426729 PMCID: PMC5398688 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0176115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2016] [Accepted: 04/05/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Cultural differences in spatial perception have been little investigated, which gives rise to the impression that spatial cognitive processes might be universal. Contrary to this idea, we demonstrate cultural differences in spatial volume perception of computer generated rooms between Germans and South Koreans. We used a psychophysical task in which participants had to judge whether a rectangular room was larger or smaller than a square room of reference. We systematically varied the room rectangularity (depth to width aspect ratio) and the viewpoint (middle of the short wall vs. long wall) from which the room was viewed. South Koreans were significantly less biased by room rectangularity and viewpoint than their German counterparts. These results are in line with previous notions of general cognitive processing strategies being more context dependent in East Asian societies than Western ones. We point to the necessity of considering culturally-specific cognitive processing strategies in visual spatial cognition research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aurelie Saulton
- Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
- * E-mail: (AS); (HB)
| | - Heinrich H. Bülthoff
- Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
- * E-mail: (AS); (HB)
| | - Stephan de la Rosa
- Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Trevor J. Dodds
- Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
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Cashdan E, Kramer KL, Davis HE, Padilla L, Greaves RD. Mobility and Navigation among the Yucatec Maya: Sex Differences Reflect Parental Investment, Not Mating Competition. HUMAN NATURE-AN INTERDISCIPLINARY BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE 2017; 27:35-50. [PMID: 26650606 PMCID: PMC4742514 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-015-9250-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Sex differences in range size and navigation are widely reported, with males traveling farther than females, being less spatially anxious, and in many studies navigating more effectively. One explanation holds that these differences are the result of sexual selection, with larger ranges conferring mating benefits on males, while another explanation focuses on greater parenting costs that large ranges impose on reproductive-aged females. We evaluated these arguments with data from a community of highly monogamous Maya farmers. Maya men and women do not differ in distance traveled over the region during the mate-seeking years, suggesting that mating competition does not affect range size in this monogamous population. However, men’s regional and daily travel increases after marriage, apparently in pursuit of resources that benefit families, whereas women reduce their daily travel after marriage. This suggests that parental effort is more important than mating effort in this population. Despite the relatively modest overall sex difference in mobility, Maya men were less spatially anxious than women, thought themselves to be better navigators, and pointed more accurately to distant locations. A structural equation model showed that the sex by marital status interaction had a direct effect on mobility, with a weaker indirect effect of sex on mobility mediated by navigational ability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth Cashdan
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Karen L Kramer
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
| | - Helen E Davis
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Lace Padilla
- Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Russell D Greaves
- Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
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Why Go There? Evolution of Mobility and Spatial Cognition in Women and Men : An Introduction to the Special Issue. HUMAN NATURE-AN INTERDISCIPLINARY BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE 2017; 27:1-15. [PMID: 26768735 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-015-9253-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Males in many non-monogamous species have larger ranges than females do, a sex difference that has been well documented for decades and seems to be an aspect of male mating competition. Until recently, parallel data for humans have been mostly anecdotal and qualitative, but this is now changing as human behavioral ecologists turn their attention to matters of individual mobility. Sex differences in spatial cognition were among the first accepted psychological sex differences and, like differences in ranging behavior, are documented for a growing set of species. This special issue is dedicated to exploring the possible adaptive links between these cognitive and ranging traits. Multiple hypotheses, at various levels of analysis, are considered. At the functional (ultimate) level, a mating-competition hypothesis suggests that range expansion may augment mating opportunities, and a fertility-and-parental-care hypothesis suggests that range contraction may facilitate offspring provisioning. At a more mechanistic (proximate) level, differences in cue availability may support or inhibit particular sex-specific navigation strategies, and spatial anxiety may usefully inhibit travel that would not justify its costs. Studies in four different cultures-Twe, Tsimane, Yucatec Maya, and Faroese-as well as an experimental study using virtual reality tools are the venue for testing these hypotheses. Our hope is to stimulate more research on the evolutionary and developmental processes responsible for this suite of linked behavioral and cognitive traits.
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Gagnon KT, Cashdan EA, Stefanucci JK, Creem-Regehr SH. Sex Differences in Exploration Behavior and the Relationship to Harm Avoidance. HUMAN NATURE-AN INTERDISCIPLINARY BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE 2017; 27:82-97. [PMID: 26650605 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-015-9248-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Venturing into novel terrain poses physical risks to a female and her offspring. Females have a greater tendency to avoid physical harm, while males tend to have larger range sizes and often outperform females in navigation-related tasks. Given this backdrop, we expected that females would explore a novel environment with more caution than males, and that more-cautious exploration would negatively affect navigation performance. Participants explored a novel, large-scale, virtual environment in search of five objects, pointed in the direction of each object from the origin, and then navigated back to the objects. We found that females demonstrated more caution while exploring as reflected in the increased amounts of pausing and revisiting of previously traversed locations. In addition, more pausing and revisiting behaviors led to degradation in navigation performance. Finally, individual levels of trait harm avoidance were positively associated with the amount of revisiting behavior during exploration. These findings support the idea that the fitness costs associated with long-distance travel may encourage females to take a more cautious approach to spatial exploration, and that this caution may partially explain the sex differences in navigation performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyle T Gagnon
- Department of Psychology, University of Utah, 380 S. 1530 E. Room 502, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA.
| | | | - Jeanine K Stefanucci
- Department of Psychology, University of Utah, 380 S. 1530 E. Room 502, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA
| | - Sarah H Creem-Regehr
- Department of Psychology, University of Utah, 380 S. 1530 E. Room 502, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA
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Sex differences in virtual navigation influenced by scale and navigation experience. Psychon Bull Rev 2016; 24:582-590. [DOI: 10.3758/s13423-016-1118-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Geary DC. Can Neglected Tropical Diseases Compromise Human Wellbeing in Sex-, Age-, and Trait-Specific Ways? PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2016; 10:e0004489. [PMID: 27077746 PMCID: PMC4831682 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0004489] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Traits that facilitate competition for reproductive resources or that influence mate choice have evolved to signal resilience to infectious disease and other stressors. As a result, the dynamics of competition and choice can, in theory, be used to generate predictions about sex-, age-, and trait-specific vulnerabilities for any sexually reproducing species, including humans. These dynamics and associated vulnerabilities are reviewed for nonhuman species, focusing on traits that are compromised by exposure to parasites. Using the same approach, sex-, age-, and trait-specific vulnerabilities to parasitic disease are illustrated for children's and adolescent's physical growth and fitness. Suggestions are then provided for widening the assessment of human vulnerabilities to include age-appropriate measures of behavioral (e.g., children's play) and cognitive (e.g., language fluency) traits. These are traits that are likely to be compromised by infection in age- and sex-specific ways. Inclusion of these types of measures in studies of neglected tropic diseases has the potential to provide a more nuanced understanding of how these diseases undermine human wellbeing and may provide a useful means to study the efficacy of associated treatments.
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Affiliation(s)
- David C. Geary
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Interdisciplinary Neuroscience, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, United States of America
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Levine SC, Foley A, Lourenco S, Ehrlich S, Ratliff K. Sex differences in spatial cognition: advancing the conversation. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2016; 7:127-55. [DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1380] [Citation(s) in RCA: 75] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2010] [Revised: 09/30/2015] [Accepted: 12/09/2015] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Susan C. Levine
- Department of Psychology University of Chicago Chicago IL USA
| | - Alana Foley
- Department of Psychology University of Chicago Chicago IL USA
| | - Stella Lourenco
- Department of Psychology University of Chicago Chicago IL USA
| | - Stacy Ehrlich
- Department of Psychology University of Chicago Chicago IL USA
| | - Kristin Ratliff
- Department of Psychology University of Chicago Chicago IL USA
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No Evidence for Effects of Fitness Relevance or Sex Differences in a Virtual Hunting and Gathering Task. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2015. [DOI: 10.1007/s40806-015-0038-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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Trumble BC, Gaulin SJC, Dunbar MD, Kaplan H, Gurven M. No Sex or Age Difference in Dead-Reckoning Ability among Tsimane Forager-Horticulturalists. HUMAN NATURE-AN INTERDISCIPLINARY BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE 2015; 27:51-67. [DOI: 10.1007/s12110-015-9246-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Vashro L, Padilla L, Cashdan E. Sex Differences in Mobility and Spatial Cognition. HUMAN NATURE-AN INTERDISCIPLINARY BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE 2015; 27:16-34. [DOI: 10.1007/s12110-015-9247-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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