For many men, the idea that they have a better sense of direction than women was never in doubt, but now a scientific study has proved it.

很多男性都坚信自己的方向感要比女性的强，而现在更有科学研究证实了该说法。

Researchers from Norway scanned the brains of volunteers as they completed navigation tasks to discover men are more adept¹ at finding their way because they use a separate part of their brain.

挪威的研究人员在志愿者完成导航任务后，对他们的大脑进行了扫描，结果发现男性更善于找路，因为他们的大脑中有单独的区域分管方向识别。

Adding fuel to the fire, when women had testosterone dropped onto their tongues, their navigational skills improved.

更不可思议的是，向女性舌头上滴了睾丸素后，她们的方向感也提升了。

Using 3D goggles² and a joystick, a total of 36 participants - 18 men and 18 women - had to orient themselves in a large virtual maze³ while functional⁴ images of their brains were continuously recorded.

共有36人参与了此项研究，男女各18人。他们需要佩戴3D眼镜，使用操纵杆在一个巨大的虚拟迷宫中找出路。与此同时，研究人员会跟踪记录这些人的大脑运转图像。

In the MRI scanner, they were given 30 seconds for each of the 45 navigation tasks. One of the tasks, for example, was to 'find the yellow car' from different starting points.

在核磁共振扫描仪内，研究对象只有30秒的时间完成每项任务，一共有45项导航任务。其中有个任务要求研究对象在不同的起点“找一辆黄色的车”。

The men solved 50 per cent more of the tasks than the women.

最终男性比女性多完成了50%的任务。

According to lead researcher Dr Carl Pintzka from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), women and men have different navigational strategies.

本次研究首席研究员、来自挪威科技大学（NTNU）的卡尔·彼斯卡博士认为，女性和男性的导航策略不同。

Men use cardinal⁵ directions – the use of north, south, east and west - during navigation to a greater degree.

男性在找路时，很大程度上使用基本方位，比如东南西北。

'Men's sense of direction was more effective. They quite simply got to their destination faster,' he said.

他说：“男性的方向感更有效率。他们能更快到达目的地。”

'If they're going to the Student Society building in Trondheim, for example, men usually go in the general direction where it's located,' Dr Pintzka explained.

彼斯卡博士解释道：“举例来说，如果男性想去特隆赫姆的学生社团大楼，他们一般都会朝着目的地大致的方向走。”

'Women usually orient themselves along a route to get there, for example, "go past the hairdresser and then up the street and turn right after the store."'

“女性通常会顺着一条路线走，比如过了理发店后，一直朝前，走过商店再右转。

The study shows that using cardinal directions is more efficient because it is a more flexible strategy.

研究表明，使用基本方位的效率更高，因为这个策略更加灵活。

The destination can be reached faster because the strategy depends less on where you start.

使用基本方位能让人更快到达目的地，因为它不依赖起点的位置。

Images of the brain showed that both men and women use large areas of the brain when they navigate⁶, but some areas were different.

大脑扫描图表明，男性和女性导航时都会使用大面积的大脑区域，但部分区域有所区别。

The men used the hippocampus more, whereas women used their frontal areas to a greater extent.

男性更多会用到海马体，而女性很大程度上会使用额叶区。

'That's in sync with the fact that the hippocampus is necessary to make use of cardinal directions,' added Dr Pintzka.

彼斯卡博士补充道：“这个发现与前面的结果是一致的，因为使用基本方位时必须要用到海马体。”

He explained the findings in evolutionary⁷ terms.

他认为这是人类进化的结果。

'In ancient times, men were hunters and women were gatherers. Therefore, our brains probably evolved differently.

“古时，男性是狩猎者，女性是采集者。因此我们的大脑进化方式很有可能不同。”

'For instance, other researchers have documented that women are better at finding objects locally than men. In simple terms, women are faster at finding things in the house, and men are faster at finding the house,' Dr Pintzka said.

彼斯卡博士说：“比如，其他研究人员发现，女性要比男性更善于找到附近的东西。简单来说就是女性能更快地找到房子里的东西，而男性在找房子在哪的时候更快。”

During a second experiment, a separate group of women was given a drop of testosterone under their tongue just before they were going to solve the maze puzzles.

在第二个试验中，研究人员向一组单独的女性试验对象的舌下滴一滴睾丸素，然后让她们进行迷宫测试。

In this step, 42 women were divided into two groups.

过程中，42位女性分为两组。

Half of them received a drop of placebo⁸, and 21 got a drop of testosterone under the tongue.

其中一组女性的舌下滴入的是安慰剂，另一组21人滴入的是睾丸素。

The study was double-blinded so that neither Dr Pintzka nor the women knew who got what.

该研究是双盲测试，彼斯卡博士和女性试验对象都不知道滴入的试剂是什么。

'We hoped that they would be able to solve more tasks, but they didn't.

“我们希望她们能完成更多的任务，但实际上并未如此。”

'[However], they had improved knowledge of the layout of the maze, and they used the hippocampus to a greater extent, which tends to be used more by men for navigating,' he said.

他说道：“然而，她们对迷宫的布局认知有所提升，在很大程度上利用了海马体，但还是不及男性的使用程度。”

Losing one's sense of direction is one of the first symptoms in Alzheimer's disease.

失去方向感是阿尔茨海默病的先兆之一。

He hopes that by understanding how men and women use different brain areas and strategies to navigate, researchers will be able to enhance the understanding of the disease's development, and develop coping strategies for those already affected⁹.

他希望，研究人员能在了解男性和女性使用不同大脑区域和策略进行导航的原理后，增强对阿尔茨海默病发病原理的认识，为方向感受到影响的患者找到应对策略。