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Spatial ability and gender: nature or nurture?

It’s an oft-quoted maxim that men have better spatial ability than women. That’s why, it’s argued, more men are employed in fields such as engineering and technology.

But a new study of separate tribes - one male dominated, and another in which women had more power - in northern India, has suggested that these traits are inherited culturally, not through genetics.

Anexperiment with nearly 1,300 participants showed the gender gap in spatial abilities, measured by time to solve a puzzle, disappeared when dealing with a patrilineal, rather than a matrilineal society.

Read more at University of Maryland

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