Landmarks in route learning by girls and boys

Previous research on route learning has shown that men learn routes faster and with fewer errors than women. The same patterns have also been found for girls and boys. In this study, 19 children of ages 5 to 6 years, 26 children of ages 7 to 9 years, and 22 children of ages 10 to 12 years were presented a route learning task. The children were randomly assigned to either the Landmark group in which they were required to learn a route on a map that included landmarks or the No-landmark group in which they learned a route on a map without landmarks. Significant main effects were found for age and sex. Older children learned the route faster and with fewer errors than younger children. Boys made significantly fewer errors and took less time and fewer trials to reach criterion in learning the route regardless of whether landmarks were present or not. The role of landmarks in route learning needs to be further clarified.