Absence of gender differences in memory for map learning

Abstract

To test the possibility that gender differences in the accuracy of geographical knowledge might be related to long-term retention of map learning, undergraduate men and women first learned the locations of 15 “towns” on an unfamiliar map. After a 45-min delay filled with a test of geographical knowledge and other visuospatial tasks, retention was measured. For some subjects, retention was measured a second time after a 48-h delay. In agreement with earlier findings, men displayed more accurate knowledge of the locations of real places (i.e., geographical knowledge), but there was no gender difference in acquisition or retention of the location of places on the unfamiliar map. © 1987, The Psychonomic Soceity, Inc.. All rights reserved.