Sex differences in virtual navigation influenced by scale and navigation experience

Abstract

The Morris water maze is a spatial abilities test adapted from the animal spatial cognition literature and has been studied in the context of sex differences in humans. This is because its standard design, which manipulates proximal (close) and distal (far) cues, applies to human navigation. However, virtual Morris water mazes test navigation skills on a scale that is vastly smaller than natural human navigation. Many researchers have argued that navigating in large and small scales is fundamentally different, and small-scale navigation might not simulate natural human navigation. Other work has suggested that navigation experience could influence spatial skills. To address the question of how individual differences influence navigational abilities in differently scaled environments, we employed both a large-(146.4 m in diameter) and a traditional-(36.6 m in diameter) scaled virtual Morris water maze along with a novel measure of navigation experience (lifetime mobility). We found sex differences on the small maze in the distal cue condition only, but in both cue-conditions on the large maze. Also, individual differences in navigation experience modulated navigation performance on the virtual water maze, showing that higher mobility was related to better performance with proximal cues for only females on the small maze, but for both males and females on the large maze.

A new human delayed‐matching‐to‐place test in a virtual environment reverse‐translated from the rodent watermaze paradigm: Characterization of performance measures and sex differences

“…The higher mental rotation scores in male as compared to female participants replicate many previous findings (Astur et al, 2004;Peters et al, 1995;Voyer et al, 1995). The finding of robust sex differences in 1-trial place learning performance on the new virtual DMP test adds to previous findings that male, as compared to female, rodents or participants showed better incremental place learning in watermaze studies (Keeley et al, 2013;Perrot-Sinal, Kostenuik, Ossenkopp, & Kavaliers, 1996;Roof & Stein, 1999;Saucier et al, 2008), as well as in human studies using watermaze analogues (Astur et al, 1998;Astur et al, 2004;Driscoll et al, 2003;Padilla et al, 2017;Woolley et al, 2010). Importantly, the present study included two replications that both included 60 or more female and male participants and, therefore, were sufficiently powered (80%) to detect sex differences with an effect size corresponding to Cohen's d of about 0.5.…”

“…Although our study showed highly reliable sex differences in both the new virtual DMP task and the mental rotation test, with male participants performing on average better than female participants, the potential biological, psychological, and social/environmental factors underlying these sex differences (Baenninger & Newcombe, 1995;Hirnstein, Coloma Andrews, & Hausmann, 2014;Levine, Vasilyeva, Lourenco, Newcombe, & Huttenlocher, 2005;Padilla et al, 2017;Picucci, Caffò, & Bosco, 2011) remain largely to be clarified. For example, while organizational and activational effects of the male sex hormone testosterone have been implicated in male advantages in mental rotation and place learning performance in virtual maze tasks (see reviews in Hirnstein et al, 2014;Nowak, Diamond, Land, & Moffat, 2014), it has also been demonstrated that gender stereotypes and whether testing took place in mixed-or same-sex groups can affect cognitive sex differences, including in mental rotation (Hirnstein et al, 2014), and that "navigation" experience (as measured by how many of a list of local and national places participants had visited) affects sex differences in incremental place learning on a watermaze analogue (Padilla et al, 2017). Our study was not designed to address any of these factors; however, prompted by our participant demographics, which indicated that male participants were substantially more likely to regularly play computer games than female participants, we assessed if there was a relation between participants' report of regular computer gaming and virtual DMP and mental rotation performance.…”

“…As part of the first characterization of performance in our novel DMP task, we also assessed sex differences. Many previous studies have shown that male rats or male human participants show better place learning and memory than female rats or female human participants on incremental watermaze paradigms (Keeley, Tyndall, Scott, & Saucier, ; Saucier, Shultz, Keller, Cook, & Binsted, ; see Jonasson, , for a review) or on corresponding human paradigms (Astur, Ortiz, & Sutherland, ; Astur, Purton, Zaniewski, Cimadevilla, & Markus, ; Astur, Tropp, Sava, Constable, & Markus, ; Driscoll et al, ; Leon, Cimadevilla, & Tascon, ; Padilla, Creem‐Regehr, Stefanucci, & Cashdan, ; Woolley et al, ). However, there is some heterogeneity, and not all studies report significant sex differences in rats (Bucci, Chiba, & Gallagher, ; Faraji, Metz, & Sutherland, ) or humans (Daugherty et al, ; Hamilton et al, ; Moffat & Resnick, ; see also Driscoll et al, , in which male participants did not perform better than female participants in terms of search preference, although they did perform better in terms of latencies).…”

“…As part of the first characterization of performance in our novel DMP task, we also assessed sex differences. Many previous studies have shown that male rats or male human participants show better place learning and memory than female rats or female human participants on incremental watermaze paradigms (Keeley, Tyndall, Scott, & Saucier, 2013;Saucier, Shultz, Keller, Cook, & Binsted, 2008;see Jonasson, 2005, for a review) or on corresponding human paradigms (Astur, Ortiz, & Sutherland, 1998;Astur, Purton, Zaniewski, Cimadevilla, & Markus, 2016;Astur, Tropp, Sava, Constable, & Markus, 2004;Driscoll et al, 2003;Leon, Cimadevilla, & Tascon, 2014;Padilla, Creem-Regehr, Stefanucci, & Cashdan, 2017;Woolley et al, 2010).…”

Individual variation in human navigation

“…Work using the water maze with rodents as well as humans has converged on the conclusion that males use distal landmarks more effectively than females. A recent illustrative study was done by Padilla et al (2017). An overhead view of the environments used in this study is shown at the left of Figure 3, with screen shots of the participants' views at the right.…”