Are there gender-specific neural substrates of route learning from different perspectives?

Psychological studies have demonstrated sex differences in performance and tactics for route learning. Route information can be encoded in different ways, such as the survey perspective (as in maps) and the route perspective (as we experience the world). Here we show, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, that men and women use the same brain areas to learn routes from both perspectives, and that the observed sex differences in route learning are not due to differences in the parts of the brain being used. We also show that many of the same brain areas are used in route learning from both perspectives, such as the parahippocampus, precuneus, posterior cingulate gyrus and middle frontal gyrus. However, paired comparisons of route learning from both perspectives shows that the survey perspective activates the superior and middle temporal gyri and the angular gyrus, which are not activated in the route perspective.