SEX, SPACE and EVOLUTION
The parallel map theory (Jacobs & Schenk, 2003) offers a precise framework to understand mechanisms of cognitive sex differences in spatial cognition – in voles, mice, kangaroo rats and humans. In these polygamous species, females prefentially use information from positional cues, males from directional cues. Different bodies, different minds – variation in the masculinization of the digit ratio in women – the relative length of the index and ring fingers on the dominant hand, a proposed biomarker of fetal exposure to androgens – correlated with directional cue orientation. Natural space use patterns correlate with species and sex differences in relative hippocampal size in wild voles and kangaroo rats.
Key Papers
Bettis TJ, Jacobs LF (2013) Sex differences in memory for landmark arrays in C57BL/J6 mice. Animal Cognition 16:873–882. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-013-0619-x PDF
Chai XJ, Jacobs LF (2012) Digit ratio predicts sense of direction in women. PLoS ONE 7:e32816. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0032816 PDF
Chai XJ, Jacobs LF (2009) Sex differences in directional cue use in a virtual landscape. Behavioral Neuroscience 123:276–283. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014722 PDF
Barkley CL, Jacobs LF (2007) Sex and species differences in spatial memory in food-storing kangaroo rats. Animal Behaviour 73:321–329. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2006.07.009 PDF
Jacobs LF (1996) Sexual selection and the brain. Trends Ecol Evol 11:82–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/0169-5347(96)81048-2 PDF
Jacobs LF, Spencer WD (1994) Natural space-use patterns and hippocampal size in kangaroo rats. Brain Behav Evol 44:125–132. https://doi.org/10.1159/000113584 PDF
Sherry DF, Jacobs LF, Gaulin SJC (1992) Spatial memory and adaptive specialization of the hippocampus. Trends Neurosci 15:298–303. https://doi.org/10.1016/0166-2236(92)90080-r PDF
Jacobs LF, Gaulin SJ, Sherry DF, Hoffman GE (1990) Evolution of spatial cognition: sex-specific patterns of spatial behavior predict hippocampal size. Proc National Acad Sci 87:6349–6352. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.87.16.6349 PDF
