Reminds me of one of my favorite sexist jokes:

Q: Why are women so bad at parking?
A: Because men keep on trying to convince them that this ¦------¦ is eight inches.

[...] Tracey John wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptWhile research has consistently shown that the male brain has advantages in spatial skills like geometry, interpreting technical drawings and reading maps, a new study says that playing action-oriented video games can equalize the sexes … [...]

Jabrwock, to answer your question, None. I just dont ever see this as being a question they will ask someone in our lifetime unless they are going for a computer software design.

Weatherlight, maybe so, but I ask it when hiring for DBAs.

I just came here to say that the photo GP chose for this article is on my fridge as a magnet.

@Cyberskull

I recommend the original Descent for spacial training. Should you get past the dizziness (and possible madness) you will end up with a greatly enhanced spacial/kinesthetic sense. Eventually you may even learn to fly upside-down!

Oh gawd yes. That game made your head spin. Still it prepped me for future space sims that also did the "what is this 'up' thing you're talking about?'

"On average, women are not quite as good at rapidly switching attention among different objects and this may be one reason why women do not do as well on spatial tasks."

Wait wait....what? They never studied a common house wife with four kids did they? They constantly have to switch attention on numerous things every day. Is this going to be another "Men prefer to hit on hot women" study?

Yes, 'cause chicks are... wait. What the hell is a "Spatial Task"?

Someday i'm actually going to read a dictionary about these things..

@Demontestament

They never studied a common house wife with four kids did they? They constantly have to switch attention on numerous things every day.

I think they meant different spacial elements, not different tasks/events. Women are better at multitasking than men.

Must... resit... urge... to make... sexist... comment...

I love these studies. Psychology is so fun to me. Honestly, this study doesn't surprise me. There have been fMRI studies showing that 3D games activate the part of the brain involved in spatial ability quite well. The study I found that in was about depression, which involves the same area of the brain. The finding was that since games activated it more, depressive symptoms were alieviated for a time while playing. And there are so many other studies. But still not enough, and not enough positive ones.

-Mike Schwinger

I don't know how to react to this article.

I'm a female. Growing up, my brothers didn't let me play with their computer or Nintendo games. I always did well with math and science. I graduated last year with a 4.0 in Computer Engineering.

About 4-5 years ago I realized that I LOVE TO PLAY GAMES (esp FPS).

I don't think playing games affected my math skills, but I think it does help with my reaction and coordination. I still think there is a lot more than just playing games... like the kind of games they were playing...

This study really illustrates the flexibility of the human brain, we may have pre-wired tendencies but its nice to know that as thinking beings we can actively change how our brains work and respond to better suite what we may want to do.

I believe the spatial awareness deficit in women isn't as big as it's claimed to be. Most of the girls I know who grew up playing any sports or videogames, or in Boy Scouts (yes, BOY Scouts), tended to be math and science whizzes. It's hard to say, though, whether they were attracted to such pursuits because their minds were wired to like things more traditionally associated with boys, or doing such things wired their minds to be good with science/math/spatial awareness.

I wonder if most of the women in the world who are deficient compared to men in spatial awareness are those who are girly girls--i.e., those who don't do things that hone spatial awareness, but rather that hone social awareness.

I could be wrong, but it seems that way from my high school friends. Chances are, if a longer term study were done, one in which girls were exposed to as many spatial awareness tasks as their brothers, and not assumed to be inferior in math or science (an unconscious prejudice in thought and actions that is shared by most teachers, sadly), we would see less of a gap between the sexs. Heck, if ten minutes of video gameplay is all it takes, it should be easy.

Although I am wondering if they'll make games that increase boys' EQ and multitasking capabilities--or is that basically the SIMS?--if those are anywhere near so easy to change. They probably aren't, since they are connected to type and location of brain wiring and myelin sheathing permitting more compact precision brain matter collections in women. Whereas the spatial awareness difference is looking like it's more due to girls being in general less exposed to things like legos, sports, and video games. Huh.

[...] GamePolitics.com is providing a story on how University of Toronto researchers are making a breakthrough in understanding how spatial skills in men and women differ and how they can be reconciled. “Action-oriented games” can apparently bridge the gender gap in such tasks as deciphering maps and understanding geometry. Lead study author Jing Feng says: Our second experiment showed that both men and women can improve their spatial skills by playing a video game and that the women catch up to the men… Moreover, the improved performance of both sexes was maintained when we assessed them again after five months. [...]

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[...] Scientific studies at Toronto University say that “twitch” gaming improves women’s spacial skills for doing things like reading maps and blueprints, etc. [...]

[...] Action Games Improve Women’s Spatial Abilities, Says New Study [gamepolitics] [...]

I wouldn't doubt if games do help us gals with spatial ability. I used to be addicted to Super Nintendo as a kid (mostly 2D games). Although 3D games probably have more positive effects, 2D games probably help a little with spatial ability (and sometimes a lot with puzzle solving skills and hand eye coordination which us gals are also probably not as good with due to fact we're not as likely to be involved in sports). PS came out when I was in my late teens. I remember feeling visually overwhelmed the first few times I played it (I even got a head ache). Looking back, I'm pretty sure the visual processing regions of my brain were growing new neural pathways (don't know what an expert would say about this but it seems like a reasonable explaination). Anyhow, those side effects disappeared soon. I didn't actually notice a difference in math skills cause back then, my math level wasn't too high, but looking back, I did see an improvement in ability to read maps, a better "sense of direction", and the ability to understand charts & graphs. I used to play a lot of Crash Bandicot (yes, it seems lame now, but I was a silly teen girl so cut me a break). Anyhow, this game was a strange type of 3D, but I think this strangeness helped even more than the 'realistic 3D' games like we have now (e.g. Halo). Anyhow, I got to the higher level math stuff in college and had very little trouble (well, I did struggle with the concept of doing proofs at first, but I think this was a logical rather than spatial issue). Anyhow, I have a BS degree in Math now and may someday do graduate work (in either Physics or Mathematical-Physics). Anyhow, I credit much of my success to video games.

This is good to know. Maybe if I can convince my wife to play some games she will be able to find the right way when I tell her where to go over the phone.