Mental rotation and real-world wayfinding

Sex differences in mental rotation skills are a robust finding in small sca le laboratory-based studies of spatial cognition. There is almost no eviden ce in the literature, however, relating these skills to performance on spat ial tasks in large-scale, real-world activities such as navigating in a neu city or in the woods. This study investigates the connections between ment al rotation skills as measured by the Vandenburg-Kuse Mental Rotations test and the performance of college students (n=211) navigating a G-km orientee ring course. The results indicate that mental rotation skills are significa ntly correlated with wayfinding performance on an orienteering task. The fi ndings also replicate ser differences in spatial ability as found in labora tory-scale studies. However. the findings complicate the discussion of ment al rotation skills and sex because women often performed as well as men des pite having lon er mean test scores. This suggests that mental rotation abi lity may not be as necessary for some women's wayfinding as it is for men's navigation.