In a study reported in Behavioral Neuroscience in 2005, Rahman and his colleagues found that gay men are like women in that they are more dependent on left-right landmark strategies for navigation (e.g., “turn right at the church”) than on Euclidian orientation strategies preferred by straight men (e.g., “the bar is 5 miles in an easterly direction”). And in a follow-up study published in 2008 in the journal Hippocampus, Rahman and his coauthor, psychologist Johanna Koerting, also from the University of East London, found that heterosexual males are unique from gay men, straight women, and gay women in that they perform significantly faster on a task requiring them to scout out novel terrain in order to find a hidden search target. (Note that the researchers only tested people who regarded themselves as exclusively heterosexual or homosexual. Bisexuals were excluded.)
Now before you go conjuring up exceptions to these general findings, note that they refer to aggregate population-level differences. Although I personally match Rahman’s cross-sex neurocognitive model for gay brains to the tee, my partner, Juan, is a walking GPS device who could have given old Uncle Vitus a run for his money. And Juan, unlike me, has a pronounced 2D:4D ratio. Furthermore, in science, a statistically significant difference between comparison groups may actually translate to negligible differences in the real world. Finally, Rahman is quick to point out that it’s not as though gay men simply have women’s brains, or that gay women have men’s brains. Rather, the brains of homosexuals are more like neurocognitive mosaics of both sexes. For example, lesbians do not appear to differ from heterosexual women on cognitive measures except for verbal fluency, where they score in the male-typical direction.
A final note. In writing this piece I happened upon a tangential empirical tidbit indicative of another physiological difference between homosexuals and heterosexuals. In addition to our navigational shortcomings, recent evidence suggests that gay people produce different armpit odors than straight people and these scents are detectable in forced choice trials. So perhaps if I stopped wearing deodorant this would deter people from asking me for directions.
In this new column presented by Scientific American Mind magazine, research psychologist Jesse Bering of Queen's University Belfast ponders some of the more obscure aspects of everyday human behavior. Ever wonder why yawning is contagious, why we point with our index fingers instead of our thumbs or whether being breastfed as an infant influences your sexual preferences as an adult? Get a closer look at the latest data as “Bering in Mind” tackles these and other quirky questions about human nature.
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41 Comments
Add CommentJesse,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou have a really great, lively writing style that is engaging, humorous and irreverant, all the while staying rigorous about scientific caution. I particularly love the care with which you emphasize cause/effect issues and note research methodology, both critical issues that we casual readers need to be reminded of, on a constant basis. Really, this is populist science writing at its best; thanks a lot.
Why focus on gay men, do gay women give directions like a man?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNot a very complete study or story, and a positively dumb title.
I too have been frequently asked directions all over the world. In Germany once even a car pulled over to ask directions to the zoo. Fortunately, I speak German and knew exactly how to get to the zoo. In Amsterdam also I was asked for directions to a street named for one of its canals. I knew barely enough Dutch to understand the question and give directions. Years ago in Bern, Switzerland, a Scottish tourist asked me directions in a rather curious German. When I gave him directions in English, he said with a heavy Scottish burr, "Oh, yer a Yank! I cud tell by yer accent!" On a fashionable street in Rome as a very young man hitchhiking around Europe and dressed like a bum, I was approached by a working man for directions to the nearest post office. I happened to know where it was and had just enough Italian to tell him to go straight ahead two blocks and turn right.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI've wondered why people always ask ME for directions, including Puerto Ricans in Spanish on a New York subway. My wife says it's because I have a transparent Irish face and look very friendly. Not scientific, but could be the case. I'm straight and right handed, if that has anything to do with anything.
At last! Proof that gay men are inferior! I knew it! Now if we straight men could only get more creative, better sense of humor, etc....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOh well. If any gay men need directions, you can ask me. I have a GPS! :-)
Very good article, and sure to be misquoted and abused by those that have an axe to grind.
Now I can't stop looking at my fingers....
Candide,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI also was a little offended by the title. I suppose as a mathematically AND socially oriented AND nurturing female engineer, I've always been put off by these sex/hormone/genetic box studies and leaned towards the nurture dominating in the nature versus nurture argument. Either way, The article does note that heterosexual men and homosexual women are grouped together, which suggests that the same idea holds. Unfortunately, "Ask gay women for directions" doesn't really bear the resemblance to traditional joke lines as "Never ask a gay man for directions." Either way, the article seems rather tongue in cheek and scientific conclusions should always be taken with a grain of salt - they are only created by people.
I give great directions, by the way. I walk a lot, giving me an innate sense of direction, and my parents taught me how to use a map and the sun.
Very bad idea for a story. What about lesbians, are they walking GPS?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthen how will you ever find the gay bar?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf I'm good at directions, does that mean I'm straight? Actually, I seem to have a photographic memory of maps; I usually have to look at them only once. But seriously, good column and interesting ideas. I'd heard about the hippocampus research, but didn't realize there were other physiological markers.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWell I find this article quite interesting. This is not about prejudice or having a biased scientific conclusion, instead it's just stating facts and assuming one and nothing is 100 percent right but what this article says suits for probably 90 percent of the people out there and it's really fun to know some of the stuff introduced here hehe. I don't think there's any need to get professional or personal, if you find it offensive in some way then just think maybe this method doesn't fit you and you are an exception. Take my advice just look at it as a scientific-facts based article.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI find this article quite interesting actually. This is not about prejudice against homosexuals or a biased conclusion. Instead this passage is just stating scientific facts and assuming a conclusion that probably fits 90 percen of the cases. There's no need to get professional or personal here. If you find this offensive in some way, just think of it as a general method that doesn't fit everyone and maybe you are an exception. I think we should just look at it as a scientific-facts-based article only and widen our range of knowledge by accepting some of the facts that are introduced in the passage if you didn't know them before.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe article was interesting, but I found the title pretty offensive, actually.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTo me that title implies that those supposedly 'feminine' left-right landmark strategies are somehow inferior, or silly, or wrong. But if a strategy actually works - if it gets you where you're going - how is that inferior? It isn't - it's just different.
Badly done, SciAm. Badly done.
What is the purpose of leaving the bisexual out of the study?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAm I never to ask a woman for directions either!?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAm I never to ask women for directions either?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI found the title offensive. It sounds like they are saying gays are bad at giving directions and that makes them as stupid as women. Yes they are trying to do research. But this opens everything up for stereotypes. Have they actually checked to see how many men give bad directions, or did they just decide it was true that all straight men give good directions. There are things in life that appear to be the cause of something when they are not. If someone loses weight on weight loss pills, they can give the pills the credit, but more than likely it wasn't the pills. They exercised and ate right. This sounds like a misleading study. It is opening another channel for hate. My hubby got the car stuck in a snow bank and he asked me to drive to get it out while he pushed. When people came to help their comment was"Women drivers!" If you are going to do a study you should at least create a title that doesn't insinuate people who are gay or female are stupid.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is one of the most offensive titles to an article I have seen in years. I am amazed to see it in a magazine of Scientific American's calibre. How can you say "navigate like women" in the title of your article? It's offensive on so many levels to so many people. Every scientist I've showed this too was outraged by the title in particular, not the content.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHaving a working knowledge of the brain, I am not usually offended when it comes to generalities in the brain's functions. Where I find offense is in Berlig's enunciation of possible rebuttals. I felt that he denounced women and homosexuals when he chose to alleviate the main stream's fear of gay's brains being the same as opposite sex, (e.g. a gay male's brain is not the same as a women's brain... duh) . This could have been an opportunity for a discussion rather than the continual propelling of half knowledge.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat's the most sexist title I have ever encountered. Obviously the writer is the prankster who likes to give women a 'Christmas' goose now and then just to watch their reaction. If women are directionally challenged than men are hormonally challenged and this will not change their behavior one ioda in light of this info. In fact, there are few men who can get over the masochismo long enough to lower themselves to ASK for directions. Most married men would spend 85 percent of their time lost if not for their wives. But of those who do ask for them, I can be one of twenty people walking down a sidewalk and that person will run to catch up with me to ask directions. I say the research is flawed and will be set on it's head in the near future.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBaloney. Science is objective. This writer CLEARLY isn't and hasn't even provided any proof of his conclusions. Science isn't science without the FACTS!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm a geologist. I work with maps every day. I rarely ask directions because I have found I spend more time untangling garbled directions than I would merely finding places on my own. Recently in a nearby town, a friend stopped to ask directions and got four conflicting answers from different people. Meanwhile I just got the local phone book and looked at a city map.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTrue story. A friend and I spent a day in Paris and for the final stop, my friend wanted to find the Hard Rock Cafe. So we're standing on a street corner reading the map when a very courteous gendarme asked if we needed help. The gendarme started scanning the map, which bothered me a bit for two reasons. First, I'd expect a gendarme to know where a popular spot like the Hard Rock Cafe was and second, we were across the street from the Louvre, and I would definitely expect a gendarme to know where THAT was. Oh, did I mention there was a PICTURE of the Louvre on the map?
I'm a geologist. I work with maps every day. I rarely ask directions because I have found I spend more time untangling garbled directions than I would merely finding places on my own. Recently in a nearby town, a friend stopped to ask directions and got four conflicting answers from different people. Meanwhile I just got the local phone book and looked at a city map.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTrue story. A friend and I spent a day in Paris and for the final stop, my friend wanted to find the Hard Rock Cafe. So we're standing on a street corner reading the map when a very courteous gendarme asked if we needed help. The gendarme started scanning the map, which bothered me a bit for two reasons. First, I'd expect a gendarme to know where a popular spot like the Hard Rock Cafe was and second, we were across the street from the Louvre, and I would definitely expect a gendarme to know where THAT was. Oh, did I mention there was a PICTURE of the Louvre on the map?
I'm a geologist. I work with maps every day. I rarely ask directions because I have found I spend more time untangling garbled directions than I would merely finding places on my own. Recently in a nearby town, a friend stopped to ask directions and got four conflicting answers from different people. Meanwhile I just got the local phone book and looked at a city map.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTrue story. A friend and I spent a day in Paris and for the final stop, my friend wanted to find the Hard Rock Cafe. So we're standing on a street corner reading the map when a very courteous gendarme asked if we needed help. The gendarme started scanning the map, which bothered me a bit for two reasons. First, I'd expect a gendarme to know where a popular spot like the Hard Rock Cafe was and second, we were across the street from the Louvre, and I would definitely expect a gendarme to know where THAT was. Oh, did I mention there was a PICTURE of the Louvre on the map?
I'm a geologist. I work with maps every day. I rarely ask directions because I have found I spend more time untangling garbled directions than I would merely finding places on my own. Recently in a nearby town, a friend stopped to ask directions and got four conflicting answers from different people. Meanwhile I just got the local phone book and looked at a city map.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTrue story. A friend and I spent a day in Paris and for the final stop, my friend wanted to find the Hard Rock Cafe. So we're standing on a street corner reading the map when a very courteous gendarme asked if we needed help. The gendarme started scanning the map, which bothered me a bit for two reasons. First, I'd expect a gendarme to know where a popular spot like the Hard Rock Cafe was and second, we were across the street from the Louvre, and I would definitely expect a gendarme to know where THAT was. Oh, did I mention there was a PICTURE of the Louvre on the map?
Apologies for the multiple posts. The page in my browser was acting erratically.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thismy question is: does really the gays have different brains than the straight, like they born like that, physiologicaly, or their social life makes them to become gays.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am also markedly direction-challegned and verbally gifted. I am not gay but my sexuality is unusual (BDSM). I went through puberty very early, age 10. Because I am often lost and wander the street looking for my destination, I am vulnerable to the approach of strangers seeking dierections, which is ironic.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFact of the matter is, nobody has really proven anything about gay people by studying their brains. It's all opinion on the researcher's part. This article seems to be more a propaganda for social policy than it is about science. I suggest you change your career.....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisInteresting article. As mentioned ad nauseam here though, the title is too off colour for me, especially for a Science site. As a gay man, I encounter discrimination ENDLESSLY, and so obviously when I saw the title, "Never ask a gay man..." my reflex was, "another negative article on homosexuality". It would be nice, every now and then, if an article is to be printed about homosexuality, and the title is to be "tongue-in-cheek", to at least phrase it in a positive tone, rather than a negative one.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI don't want to belabour this point, but it's an important one. We live our lives in sound bytes and 1 sentence articles. When someone now is doing a search for "gay" and "sense of direction", this title, with it's negative tone, will appear in all search engines across the Internet.
I'd like to look at the data of this study to see how statistically significant the findings are. I have no sense of direction whatsoever (!), but my partner is almost autistic in his keen ability to find his way around new environments.
With regards to what ZenaV said about "nobody has really proven anything about gay people by studying their brains" is nonsensical. Science is not in the game of "proof" or "proving" things! Science only develops theories/laws through inductive reasoning. And in the case of gay men, Science has shown STRONG converging evidence of BIOLOGICAL differences (both phenotypically and genotypically) for homosexuals versus heterosexuals.
Interesting article. As mentioned ad nauseam here though, the title is too off colour for me, especially for a Science site. As a gay man, I encounter discrimination ENDLESSLY, and so obviously when I saw the title, "Never ask a gay man..." my reflex was, "another negative article on homosexuality". It would be nice, every now and then, if an article is to be printed about homosexuality, and the title is to be "tongue-in-cheek", to at least phrase it in a positive tone, rather than a negative one.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI don't want to belabour this point, but it's an important one. We live our lives in sound bytes and 1 sentence articles. When someone now is doing a search for "gay" and "sense of direction", this title, with it's negative tone, will appear in all search engines across the Internet.
I'd like to look at the data of this study to see how statistically significant the findings are. I have no sense of direction whatsoever (!), but my partner is almost autistic in his keen ability to find his way around new environments.
With regards to what ZenaV said about "nobody has really proven anything about gay people by studying their brains" is nonsensical. Science is not in the game of "proof" or "proving" things! Science only develops theories/laws through inductive reasoning. And in the case of gay men, Science has shown STRONG converging evidence of BIOLOGICAL differences (both phenotypically and genotypically) for homosexuals versus heterosexuals.
Strong evidence, huh? You people cut off ur noses to spite your faces it seems to me. Whatever. You aren't LIKE women. Period. Get over it. You're something different and out of tune with nature. Hence the article. I bet the author will be tickled to death he got controversy started. Brown-noser.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOh Zena. It's clear you lack a formal education in Science, and perhaps a formal education in general. First, believe me, it's not gay men's goal to become like "women". Trust me! Second, homosexuality, as you SHOULD know, exists in countless species -- you need only be WILLING to look at the massive evidence that documents it. Thus, if homosexuality is common in NATURE, that makes it "NATURAL".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou needn't engage in ad hominem arguments (that is attack my character, or the character of other gays and lesbians) in tyring to argue your point (which we are all a little confused as to what that is), as it only showcases not only your lack of intellect, but also your dogmatic approach to knowledge and your inability to engage another in an intelligent conversation.
If you have rigourous training in Science, then use the language and the dialogue you have been taught to engage us here, otherwise, there are many other sites that would appreciate your obtuse observations.
Does this mean that Ryoga (from Ranma 1/2) is gay? :P
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWell, that would explain why he's so homophobic. :P
Blah, blah, blah. You think you're so smart. No wonder our country is going to hell in a handbasket. Whatever. I will be sure not to SPEAK to you anymore. And btw; I wasn't sure what my views was on the 'gay' rights thing was as I was still studying the subject, but you've definitely made up my mind for me. Bite me.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI live in the S. Hemisphere. I have an excellent sense of direction ( a little less as I get older). My wife has a lousy sense of direction. So much so that it is a family joke "If Mum says turn right - we turn left"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI take my sense of direction for granted and know it is unconscious always there. But I found that when I visited the N hemisphere my sense of direction did not work at all. I found it terrifying and disturbing getting badly lost in hire cars. It was like I had lost a part of my brain that I automatically depended on. However my wife's sense of direction was terrific. . The reverse of her experience at home.
Go figure!!
People yes the title could be seen as offensive! It served its purpose: to get you to read the article!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy Russian friends, women, are really good in space orientation, sometimes much better than males. I asked a Russian male from NYC what he thinks about the subject. He said that he usually relies on his wife for directions but never ask an American girls because they are really 'spatially challenged.' So, it's not about a gender or sexual orientation but about cultural societal standards. American girls learn to be 'spatially challenged' in school and family because that type of behavior 'approved' by society and enforced by it. Male should be 'better' and American girls learn to make Him comfortable with them. Also gays have to learn to copy females in that matter. Thank you.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJesse, you might take a look at the evidence for directions from Egyptian papyri in Graeco-Roman antiquity. It is based on common reference points, although they were quite familiar with concepts of E-W-N-S and perhaps even moreso than moderns since they intimately used the sun and the n-s; e-w streets of major cities were linear, extending for many kilometers. Secondly, as has been pointed in many of these nature/nurture articles, there is no way to understand what is a genetic predilection and what is acquired behavior. Modern gay cultures--and there are many, many of them--survive in a hostile and even life threatening world due to communication. One has only to see the close association between major classes of gay men and computers in the US today. And one could properly ask--if not humorously--if this genetic or just to pick up other guys?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI beg to differ with the title/conclusion: "gay men navigate like women" ??? I have been married for 35 years because I can navigate. Otherwise, my husband would be lost somewhere on a snow bound highway in Idaho. The author's writing is superb; the conclusion is suspect and flawed. Perhaps someone should look at the map . . .
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm a straight female who gives directions better than almost anyone I know (men included, she said modestly), while my 2 exes couldn't navigate their way out of a paper bag with a map, a compass, and a flashlight. Oddly, my sense of direction per se is completely borked. I wonder if I learned to give directions well to compensate.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi am a gay man , and i guess i could say that my sense of direction is excellent. i have never forgotten directions to a place i've been once. i think your article is rubbish.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is an incredibly offensive article. Have you considered how this this kind of science and reporting is the very tool of y/our oppression both historically and at present? And please don't come back at me with the "value-neutrality" of science. If you can bring yourself to see past the thin veneer of ahistoricity that paints the face of science and cast even a cursory glance at the history of science, you should realize the myth of any such claim.
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