Experience and retrieval mode as potential

modulating factors in gender differences in distance

knowledge of a daily environment.

Maartje de Goede | Albert Postma

Conference on Research and Training in Spatial Intelligence

Evanston, 14 June 2008

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN CONFIGURATIONAL KNOWLEDGE

- In most cases males outperform females

(+/- 50 %)

- But: in considerable number of studies males

and females perform the same (+/- 41 %)

(Colluccia & Louse, 2004)

POSSIBLE MODULATING FACTORS?

• Amount of familiarity, experience (Colluccia &

Louse, 2004; Fields & Shelton, 2006)

• Self-Confidence

(Lawton, 1996; Schmitz, 1997; Moe & Pazzaglia, 2006)

• Difficulty

(Colluccia & Louse, 2004)

AIM STUDY

1. Investigating the modulating effect of

experience on gender differences in

distance knowledge

2. Investigating the effect of task type:• Implicit distance task• Explicit distance task

PARTICIPANTS

• 81 participants (42 females)

− Half of the participants had lived between 6 –

12 months in Utrecht

− Half of the participants had lived more than 36

months in Utrecht

METHODS

METHODS & MATERIALS

• City of Utrecht, 12 locations

• Location recognition task

• Priming task (McNamara, 1986; Noordzij et al., 2005)

• Distance task

12 LOCATIONS IN UTRECHT

INTRODUCTION

METHODS & MATERIALS

• City of Utrecht, 12 locations

• Location recognition task

• Priming task (McNamara, 1986; Noordzij et al., 2005)

• Distance task

DISTANCE COMPARISON TASK (Evans & Pezdek, 1980)

INTRODUCTION

Dom - bibliotheek Hema - Broers

4 sec 1 sec

SELF-RATING KNOWLEDGE LOCATION POSITIONS

* *

effect experience: F (1, 77) = 58.2, p < .001 effect experience: F (1, 77) = 58.2, p < .001

PRIMING TASK

***

Distance : F (1, 77) = 35.04, p < .001

Experience: F (1, 77) = 7.4, p < .01

REACTION TIMES AND DISTANCE RATIOS

r = 0.65, p < .001

DISTANCE TASK

Interaction effect: Pair type x Experience x Sex: F (1, 73) = 4.87, p < .05

* *

CONCLUSION & DISCUSSION

• Subjective rating of location knowledge

shows effect of experience.

• Effect of gender and experience in ‘difficult’

distance task > related to strategy?

• No effect gender/experience in implicit

distance task.

STRATEGY

Count

17 8 25

7 18 25

24 26 50

above

within

Strategy_Distance1

Total

males females

sex

Total

Count

20 11 31

5 16 21

25 27 52

straight

route

Strategy_Distance2

Total

males females

sex

Total

Χ² (1, N = 50) = 8.0, p < .01

Χ² (1, N = 52) = 8.3, p < .01

CONCLUSION & DISCUSSION

• Subjective rating of location knowledge

shows effect of experience.

• Effect of gender and experience in ‘difficult’

distance task > related to strategy?

• No effect gender/experience in implicit

distance task.

CORRELATION PRIMING TASK – DISTANCE TASK

CONCLUSION & DISCUSSION

• Subjective rating of location knowledge

shows effect of experience.

• Effect of gender and experience in ‘difficult’

distance task > related to strategy?

• No effect gender/experience in implicit

distance task.

THANK YOU!