Can violent computer games help me parallel park any better?
Interesting read about biological determinism in this week's Economist, Science and Technology section. I'm talking about the article, Nurture Strikes Back. According to a study conducted by Ian Spence at the University of Toronto, test groups of women and men were told to locate unusual objects in their field of vision. Male success rate: 68%, female success rate: 55%.
Then the two groups were asked to play a video game called "Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault", involving what I imagine a lot of shooting and aggressive offensives. After playing the game, both the men and women's success rates were the same, and remained so after 5 months.
So what does this mean? It could mean that the hoopla about sex differences in spatial acuity is something that can be controlled or improved, or that in the nature v. nuture argument, it all comes down to the nurture aspect of it. Could it be? This give me hope for improving my driving skills which is a work in progress...in spite of the fact that the driver parked next to me in the parking lot insisted that he pull out his car (and then sped off) before I could finish parking in my spot. Hey, the car was a rental and a jeep so I couldn't see very well.
