Route-learning strategies and spatial processing: A developmental perspective

Research in route-learning, an application of spatial skills, suggests that attention to map attributes varies systematically between male and female adults, with males relying on Euclidean cues, such as distances and cardinal directions, and females on topological attributes, such as landmarks. Similarly, spatial research based on pencil-and-paper psychometric tasks has revealed reliable gender differences in performance levels. Although initial studies (Choi & Silverman, 1996; Dabbs et al., 1998) suggest that qualitative route-learning differences are associated with quantitative spatial performance levels in adults, developmental research has been neglected. The present studies addressed this void, investigating the emergence of gender differences on psychometric spatial tasks and route-learning strategies using a direction-giving paradigm. Children and adolescents, aged 8 to 17 years, provided directions from points of origin to destination points using a novel map. Route-learning strategies were coded for landmark, distance, relative and cardinal direction frequencies. All participants also completed a spatial battery comprising of Spatial Relations, a water level task and Silverman and Eals' (1992) object and location memory task. An additional spatial task, Flags, was added to the battery completed by the older sample. Each measure in the battery represented one of three spatial subcomponents: mental rotation, spatial perception and location memory. Three main findings emerged: (1) gender differences in mental rotation, spatial perception, and object location tasks existed to various degrees before puberty, which were also found in adolescents; (2) girls demonstrated a preference for landmarks, which emerged during puberty and persisted thereafter; and (3) landmark preferences were negatively associated with spatial perception in boys but positively associated with location memory in girls. These patterns are consistent with the evolutionary perspective of specialized spatial capacities and suggest that integration of qualitative spatial data may provide additional insight into spatial gender differences.