科學研究證實男性方向感要比女性強

For many men, the idea that they have a better sense of direction than women was never in doubt, but now a scientific study has proved it.

很多男性都堅信自己的方向感要比女性的強，而現在更有科學研究證實了該說法。

Researchers from Norway scanned the brains of volunteers as they completed navigation tasks to discover men are more adept at finding their way because they use a separate part of their brain.

挪威的研究人員在志願者完成導航任務後，對他們的大腦進行了掃描，結果發現男性更善於找路，因爲他們的大腦中有單獨的區域分管方向識別。

Adding fuel to the fire, when women had testosterone dropped onto their tongues, their navigational skills improved.

更不可思議的是，向女性舌頭上滴了睾丸素後，她們的方向感也提升了。

Using 3D goggles and a joystick, a total of 36 participants - 18 men and 18 women - had to orient themselves in a large virtual maze while functional images of their brains were continuously recorded.

共有36人蔘與了此項研究，男女各18人。他們需要佩戴3D眼鏡，使用操縱桿在一個巨大的虛擬迷宮中找出路。與此同時，研究人員會跟蹤記錄這些人的大腦運轉圖像。

In the MRI scanner, they were given 30 seconds for each of the 45 navigation tasks. One of the tasks, for example, was to 'find the yellow car' from different starting points.

在覈磁共振掃描儀內，研究對象只有30秒的時間完成每項任務，一共有45項導航任務。其中有個任務要求研究對象在不同的起點“找一輛黃色的車”。

The men solved 50 per cent more of the tasks than the women.

最終男性比女性多完成了50%的任務。

According to lead researcher Dr Carl Pintzka from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), women and men have different navigational strategies.

本次研究首席研究員、來自挪威科技大學（NTNU）的卡爾·彼斯卡博士認爲，女性和男性的導航策略不同。

Men use cardinal directions – the use of north, south, east and west - during navigation to a greater degree.

男性在找路時，很大程度上使用基本方位，比如東南西北。

'Men's sense of direction was more effective. They quite simply got to their destination faster,' he said.

他說：“男性的方向感更有效率。他們能更快到達目的地。”

'If they're going to the Student Society building in Trondheim, for example, men usually go in the general direction where it's located,' Dr Pintzka explained.

彼斯卡博士解釋道：“舉例來說，如果男性想去特隆赫姆的學生社團大樓，他們一般都會朝着目的地大致的方向走。”

'Women usually orient themselves along a route to get there, for example, "go past the hairdresser and then up the street and turn right after the store."'

“女性通常會順着一條路線走，比如過了理髮店後，一直朝前，走過商店再右轉。

The study shows that using cardinal directions is more efficient because it is a more flexible strategy.

研究表明，使用基本方位的效率更高，因爲這個策略更加靈活。

The destination can be reached faster because the strategy depends less on where you start.

使用基本方位能讓人更快到達目的地，因爲它不依賴起點的位置。

Images of the brain showed that both men and women use large areas of the brain when they navigate, but some areas were different.

大腦掃描圖表明，男性和女性導航時都會使用大面積的大腦區域，但部分區域有所區別。

The men used the hippocampus more, whereas women used their frontal areas to a greater extent.

男性更多會用到海馬體，而女性很大程度上會使用額葉區。

'That's in sync with the fact that the hippocampus is necessary to make use of cardinal directions,' added Dr Pintzka.

彼斯卡博士補充道：“這個發現與前面的結果是一致的，因爲使用基本方位時必須要用到海馬體。”

He explained the findings in evolutionary terms.

他認爲這是人類進化的結果。

'In ancient times, men were hunters and women were gatherers. Therefore, our brains probably evolved differently.

“古時，男性是狩獵者，女性是採集者。因此我們的大腦進化方式很有可能不同。”

'For instance, other researchers have documented that women are better at finding objects locally than men. In simple terms, women are faster at finding things in the house, and men are faster at finding the house,' Dr Pintzka said.

彼斯卡博士說：“比如，其他研究人員發現，女性要比男性更善於找到附近的東西。簡單來說就是女性能更快地找到房子裏的東西，而男性在找房子在哪的時候更快。”

During a second experiment, a separate group of women was given a drop of testosterone under their tongue just before they were going to solve the maze puzzles.

在第二個試驗中，研究人員向一組單獨的女性試驗對象的舌下滴一滴睾丸素，然後讓她們進行迷宮測試。

In this step, 42 women were divided into two groups.

過程中，42位女性分爲兩組。

Half of them received a drop of placebo, and 21 got a drop of testosterone under the tongue.

其中一組女性的舌下滴入的是安慰劑，另一組21人滴入的是睾丸素。

The study was double-blinded so that neither Dr Pintzka nor the women knew who got what.

該研究是雙盲測試，彼斯卡博士和女性試驗對象都不知道滴入的試劑是什麼。

'We hoped that they would be able to solve more tasks, but they didn't.

“我們希望她們能完成更多的任務，但實際上並未如此。”

'[However], they had improved knowledge of the layout of the maze, and they used the hippocampus to a greater extent, which tends to be used more by men for navigating,' he said.

他說道：“然而，她們對迷宮的佈局認知有所提升，在很大程度上利用了海馬體，但還是不及男性的使用程度。”

Losing one's sense of direction is one of the first symptoms in Alzheimer's disease.

失去方向感是阿爾茨海默病的先兆之一。

He hopes that by understanding how men and women use different brain areas and strategies to navigate, researchers will be able to enhance the understanding of the disease's development, and develop coping strategies for those already affected.

他希望，研究人員能在瞭解男性和女性使用不同大腦區域和策略進行導航的原理後，增強對阿爾茨海默病發病原理的認識，爲方向感受到影響的患者找到應對策略。