Perspective and strategy interactively modulate sex differences in a 3D navigation task

Sex differences in navigation performance have been attributed to sex differences in information processing during navigation. Perspective refers to the viewpoint of the navigator, with previous work suggesting that men tend to use an allocentric perspective, while women tend to use an egocentric perspective during navigation. Furthermore, different navigation strategies may be used when moving from point A to B, with previous work suggesting that men tend to use a Euclidian strategy, while women tend to use a landmark-based strategy. However, it has not been studied whether perspective and strategy affect sex differences in navigation interactively or independently of each other. The present study aimed to investigate the interactive effects of perspective and strategy on sex differences in a 3D navigation task. In different levels of the task, perspective and strategy were modulated in a 2 × 2 design via different instructions. Potential mediating effects of video gaming experience and sex hormone levels were addressed. We found that men outperformed women in all levels of the navigation task. However, the male advantage was more pronounced using the allocentric perspective compared to the egocentric perspective. When using the allocentric perspective, men showed better performance using a Euclidian strategy while women showed better performance using a landmark-based strategy. The strategy did not modulate performance under the egocentric perspective. Accordingly, sex differences in navigation were interactively modulated by perspective and strategy. These effects were not explained by sex differences in video gaming experience or sex hormone levels.