That's not what I've heard.
Posted on 01/24/2005 9:24:11 AM PST by untenured
Map reading and parking may prove difficult for some women because they were exposed to too little testosterone in the womb, researchers suggest.
The study, in the journal Intelligence, fuels the age-old male myth that women are deficient in these skills.
Scientists from the University of Giessen, Germany, found a lack of the hormone affects spatial ability.
Low testosterone levels are also linked to shorter wedding ring fingers, they say.
The research looked at the spatial, numerical and verbal skills of 40 student volunteers.
Spatial skill is the ability to assess and orientate shapes and spaces. Map reading and parking are spatial skills which men often say women lack. Women tend to disagree.
The researchers also looked at the length of the students' wedding and index fingers.
In women, the two fingers are usually almost equal in length, as measured from the crease nearest the palm to the fingertip. In men, the ring finger tends to be much longer than the index.
For one of the spatial tests, volunteers had to tell which of five drawings could not be rotated so it looked like the other four.
The other test involved the ability to think in 3D by mentally "unfolding" a complex shape.
Overall, men achieved higher scores in the tests than women.
But women with the male pattern of finger length did better than those whose wedding finger was shorter.
They also scored better on the numerical tests.
Fertility
Writing in Intelligence, the researchers, led by Dr Petra Kempel, said women who had 'male-like' finger length ratio patterns outperformed other women.
They added that the differences seen within the group studied were "remarkable."
However, the researchers accept that their study was limited because only one saliva sample was taken from each person, and no detailed account was taken of women's menstrual cycle, which can affect hormone balance.
Other studies looking at finger length ratio have suggested that, in men a long ring finger and symmetrical hands are an indication of fertility, and that women are more likely to be fertile if they have a longer index finger.
Another study controversially suggested that finger length ratio could also be linked to sexual orientation, with lesbian women having a greater difference in length between their ring finger and index finger than straight women do.
Well, I don't have any trouble reading a map.
You are one of about 5% of women who can read one. Congrats. My wife still can't parallel park worth a darn, despite my very patient training.
with lesbian women having a greater difference in length between their ring finger and index finger than straight women do.
Could there be a cure? POLITICALLY INCORRECT thought!
Uh-oh. I'm sensing a theme................
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1327307/posts
Bwaa haaaaa...
I'm a pro at driving ;)
Getting a man to read a map is the hard first step, almost as difficult as having him stop to ask for directions. ;)
Note to self: Check length of girlfriends' ring finger asap.
Really?
Hey,............Hon!
i can read a map, parallel park and have a better innate sense of direction than my hub and my ring and index fingers are precisely the same length. this is a crock o crap!~
I tried to teach my wife to drive a standard shift. After 30 minutes and about 30000 miles of wear on the clutch we gave up. She was not even able to start the truck moving.
Someone actually got paid to do research with a statistical sample of 40 people in one location.
Criminy.
There you go with the medical terminology. ;)
That's not what I've heard.
Automatic Transmission is a woman's best friend.
"You are one of about 5% of women who can read one. Congrats"
Me too! And can park and maneuver well.
Never dreamt it was only 5%. I think many women do not even try.
I used to read a map all the time even before I went into the Army. Once, I told my driver, there is a little road coming up after a culvert; I want you to make a right turn there." He was mystified til I explained a 1:50K In Germany, you almost can't get lost with a 1:50.
Women who can't read maps don't belong in the Army, for sure.
She is the only reason I gave up my stick shifts.
well i learned it all from you, you are FONT of medical terms! ; )
I also can read a map, parallel park, back into a space using mirrors, judge distances....etc. This study will be disproved as soon as another study is conducted. Whenever there is a "study" taken, the only variable that are put into the study are the ones that back up your point of view.
Me, I guess I'm an exception to the rule prescribed here to women. My friends call me "Enduro Driver" and claim that I must have a GPS type of "GRID" in my head.
I love my GRID. :-) Once in a blue moon it's a tad off though, and I haven't been able to locate the glitch to patch it.
My husband often times drives by the street in our neighborhood that you have to turn on to pull in to our driveway. We've lived here over 5 years. Should I be measuring his fingers?
"She was not even able to start the truck moving."
I LOVE driving a stick. Driving an auto tx is not even driving, it is more like steering or something, but not DRIVING . . .
When I was a teen, my Dad had me driving the pickup. It was up an incline at a stop sign, and I kept stalling out. He leaned his head back, put his hat over his eyes, and pretended to be asleep! IOW, I was to do it BY MYSELF. He was not going to take over the wheel!
The first time I drove a TR6 with a competition clutch, I stalled out a few times. But after I got the hang of it, it was a fun car to drive.
THis sounds vaguely like feeling and reading bumps on the head.
ANYONE who can't read a map does not belong behind the wheel of a vehicle.......PERIOD.
our new van has a navigation system which is almost worse, bc now my hub will RELY on it to try to get somewhere!
Okay, that proves it. Women have an excuse. OTOH, Bad male drivers are just ignorant, immature, and irresponsible. (That's what I was supposed to get from this article, right?) ;)
No, your ring finger has to be shorter to qualify for incapable status.
Given my choose I would drive nothing but a stick. But I have to get something the wife can drve too.
I think you'll find that the vast majority of women would not feel comfortable using mirrors to back into a space. The vast majority of guys claim to be experts, though for alot of 'em its wishful thinking.
You two are a hoot!!!!!!!!!
I was just thinking the same thing. It must be "bash on women" day in the scientific community.
It does appear to be another day of "girlz are stoopid un baaad" on FR.
Do you know how to make a hormone? Don't pay her.
God that's old, but I couldn't resist.
i prefer backing into a space than pulling in headfirst most times and i definitely use the mirrors. the new van also has the sonar system which beeps when you are getting close to hitting something, that helps too.
Oh no, what the...
well i for one, unlike Prof Nancy Hopkins up at harvard, am not going to bawl and whine about it! nor will i puke or pass out!
Well! I certianly can read a map and I can park very well.
When we had a Astro mini-van, my husband always had me parallel park it! ( I drove it more and was used to it.)
"I think you'll find that the vast majority of women would not feel comfortable using mirrors to back into a space."
If you are able to provide me with those statistics, I would be more than happy to believe you.
"ANYONE who can't read a map does not belong behind the wheel of a vehicle.......PERIOD."
Tho they should not be reading the map WHILE driving! ;)
I study the map BEFORE heading out, and at stops. I taught my daughter to follow a road map to help me navigate and look for road signs when it is only the two of us in the car. It will be a good skill for her.
I explained: well, you said it was a right turn in .3 mile. That way I knew to get into the right lane. Some people cause accidents by switching lanes at the last minute. . . Besides, you don't want to get lost and end up in a bad area. etc.
Her sense of distance improved immediately. We didn't see the next turn for a while. She said: well, if that last one was .6 mile, then we probably haven't passed the turn yet since it is supposed to be 1.3 miles. [this is with Mapquest directions and a map -- she can read highway miles on the interstate maps, but not .3 mile ;) ]
You don't need hormones to make you a 'bad' driver. Just try to drive on the 95 with all the retirees and you start to take risks just to save your own life.
"Map reading and parking are spatial skills which men often say women lack. Women tend to disagree."
Couldn't resist....
Good for you. I think this stuff is silly. Especially concidering it was mostly funded with government money. My wife has no problem reading a map and is a fine driver.
Well, I wasn't really thinking of that when I posted it. I was more interested in the hysterical reaction of a female scientist to what Lawrence Summers said last week, and what implications it might have for the ability to ask basic scientific questions. (This study, for whatever it is worth, was led by a woman, Dr. Petra Kempel.)
It's not all bad for the fairer sex, as this excerpt from the article linked in post 5 above suggests:
"This may help explain why men tend to excel in tasks requiring more local processing, like mathematics and map-reading, while women tend to excel at integrating information from various brain regions, such as is required for language skills."These two very different pathways and activity centres, however, result in equivalent overall performance on broad measures of cognitive ability, such as those found on intelligence tests."
Bump for when the wife gets home.
Precisely the same for me. My boss travels extensively, calling in to have me find out where he is when he's lost. He's always amazed that I can pinpoint him on a road and tell him where his is within 5-10 miles of his location.
My response was based on reading responses on other threads. Insults abound, as usual.
~sigh~ Think I am going to hope in my car now and go shop for shoes-- without a map. ;)
"I also can read a map, parallel park, back into a space using mirrors, judge distances....etc."
The differences between individuals are greater than the average differences between the sexes. You could be better at all those things than 99% of the male population. That doesn't mean there are no differences between the sexes or that males, on average, aren't better at those things than women.
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