news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7613621.stm

Scientists have uncovered evidence for an inbuilt "sat-nav" system in the brains of London taxi drivers.

They used magnetic scanners to explore the brain activity of taxi drivers as they navigated their way through a virtual simulation of London's streets.

Different brain regions were activated as they considered route options, spotted familiar landmarks or thought about their customers.

The research was presented at this week's BA Science Festival.

Earlier studies had shown that taxi drivers have a larger hippocampus - a region of the brain that plays an important role in navigation.


Has there been a comparative study of the male and female hippocampii ?

TLJ wrote:
Has there been a comparative study of the male and female hippocampii ?

Yes, my own one, conducted over decades of being married to a woman (the same one) and a lifetime's observation of those of a female persuasion.
The conclusions are:
Men have an innate sense of direction that makes them far superior to women when navigating to any destination in a car. The fact that 90% of sat navs are purchased by men confirms this.
Women tend to know their right and left better than men; I use "watch turn" and "non-watch turn" instead.
Men have much better spatial awareness than women. This is clearly demonstrated by the facts that women never get their road position correct at junctions and their complete inability to reverse park even into a space that could accommodate a forty foot artic.
Women have no mechanical sympathy at all since they all drive diesel cars as if they were petrol powered.
All of the above are indisputable. Except by my wife.

Levenax wrote:

Women tend to know their right and left better than men; I use "watch turn" and "non-watch turn" instead.


Are you left-handed ? Or does this simply illustrate your affliction ?

I'm right-handed and so my watch is one my left wrist. Therefore

right = non-watch

left = watch

Men have an innate sense of direction that makes them far superior to women when navigating to any destination in a car. The fact that 90% of sat navs are purchased by men confirms this.
If men have an innate sense of direction, why do they need sat navs at all?

Robin T Cox wrote:
Men have an innate sense of direction that makes them far superior to women when navigating to any destination in a car. The fact that 90% of sat navs are purchased by men confirms this.
If men have an innate sense of direction, why do they need sat navs at all?

They're for their wives !

TLJ wrote:
Or does this simply illustrate your affliction ?

Yes.

Men buy sat navs for themselves. In the past, there was the inevitable argument when travelling with their wife - the husband got lost, refused to admit it or even worse, stop and ask for directions! Now all can be peace and harmony.
Could I ask anyone who uses sat nav - do you have any preference as to whether a man or a woman tells you where to go?!

Until recently I ran my Tom Tom sat nav on my Dell Axim X51v and the voice was that of a calm well spoken woman. She was really clear and helpful and didn't get stroppy when I took a wrong turn. We called her Patience.
I dropped the Axim and smashed its screen so I bought a Tom Tom 730 which is really good but I don't like the voice as much. My Axim is fixed now but the 730 gizmo has smart lane technology and it's a lot less fussy about acquiring satellite signals than the Axim's GPS receiver was. Patience now lives in the glove box as a backup.

I find this research a little puzzling for the following reason.
How on earth were magnetic scanners housed, and connected,(in the back of the simulator cab perhaps?),to explore taxi drivers brain activity as they navigated their way through a virtual simulation of London's streets.
And what were the driver's brain activity when a virtual tip was offered?

I don't think it matters if the sat nav voice is male or female however I always feel slightly guilty if I talk over them.

Like having the mother-in-law in the back seat, really.