Men and women see things differently because of ancient hunter-gatherer programming in their brains, research suggests.
Scientists carried out experiments that
showed men are better at judging faraway targets, while women are good
at short-distance focusing.
They
believe the findings reflect the way men and women's brains evolved for
different hunter-gatherer roles many thousands of years ago.
Hunters, who were traditionally men, needed an ability to observe from afar.
Women,
on the other hand, had to be adept at searching the area immediately
within reach for fruits, nuts, berries and edible roots.
Researchers asked a group of 48 men and women to mark the midpoint of lines on a piece of paper within a laser pointer.
Men were more accurate than women when the target was placed far away at a distance of 100cm.
When the paper was within a 50cm hands-reach distance, the women were more accurate.
Psychologist Helen Stancey, from Hammersmith and West London College, said: "Evidence already exists that separate pathways in the brain process visual information from near and far space. Our results suggest that the near pathway is favoured in women and the far pathway is favoured in men.
"These sex differences in visual processing may be a result of our hunter-gatherer evolutionary legacy. As the predominant gatherers, women would have needed to work well in near space, whereas the prey for (predominantly male) hunters would have been in far space."
The findings are published online today in the British Journal of Psychology.
In a second study, volunteers were asked to carry out the same tasks using a stick rather than a laser pointer.
This time women were significantly better than men at judging both distances.
The finding suggests that pointing with a stick helps the brain to process distant information as if it is in near space, said the scientists.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
When the paper was within a 50cm hands-reach distance, the women were more accurate.
Psychologist Helen Stancey, from Hammersmith and West London College, said: "Evidence already exists that separate pathways in the brain process visual information from near and far space. Our results suggest that the near pathway is favoured in women and the far pathway is favoured in men.
"These sex differences in visual processing may be a result of our hunter-gatherer evolutionary legacy. As the predominant gatherers, women would have needed to work well in near space, whereas the prey for (predominantly male) hunters would have been in far space."
The findings are published online today in the British Journal of Psychology.
In a second study, volunteers were asked to carry out the same tasks using a stick rather than a laser pointer.
This time women were significantly better than men at judging both distances.
The finding suggests that pointing with a stick helps the brain to process distant information as if it is in near space, said the scientists.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
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