Lost, Need Directions?

If you need to know which way to go, your best bet is to ask a man, according to new research that suggests men have a better sense of direction than women. Although men and women specialize in their own tasks, researchers wanted to uncover if a good sense of direction has more to do with sex hormones or cultural conditioning.

In order to test if culture or hormones plays a role in direction, women were given testosterone and asked to perform tasks in a virtual environment.

The researchers, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, conducted fMRIs and found that men used more shortcuts and different parts of the brain to complete the tasks when compared to women.It has been shown that losing your sense of direction is an early sign of Alzheimer’s disease.

“Almost all brain-related diseases are different in men and women, either in the number of affected individuals or in severity. Therefore, something is likely protecting or harming people of one sex. Since we know that twice as many women as men are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, there might be something related to sex hormones that is harmful,” said Dr. Pintzka.

Dr. Pintzka hopes that by understanding more about the different areas of the brain, which are used to complete different tasks, it can offer a greater understanding of Alzheimer’s disease as well.

Reprinted with permission from Bel Marra Health.

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