Cultural determinants of the gap between self-estimated navigation ability and wayfinding performance: evidence from 46 countries

Abstract

Cognitive abilities can vary widely. Some people excel in certain skills, others struggle. However, not all those who describe themselves as gifted are. One possible influence on self-estimates is the surrounding culture. Some cultures may amplify self-assurance and others cultivate humility. Past research has shown that people in different countries can be grouped into a set of consistent cultural clusters with similar values and tendencies, such as attitudes to masculinity or individualism. Here we explored whether such cultural dimensions might relate to the extent to which populations in 46 countries overestimate or underestimate their cognitive abilities in the domain of spatial navigation. Using the Sea Hero Quest navigation test and a large sample (N=383,187) we found cultural clusters of countries tend to be similar in how they self-rate ability relative to their actual performance. Across the world population sampled, higher self-ratings were associated with better performance. However, at the national level, higher self-ratings as a nation were not associated with better performance as a nation. Germanic and Near East countries were found to be most overconfident in their abilities and Nordic countries to be most under-confident in their abilities. Gender stereotypes may play a role in mediating this pattern, with larger national positive attitudes to male stereotyped roles (Hofstede’s masculinity dimension) associated with a greater overconfidence in performance at the national level. We also replicate, with higher precision than prior studies, evidence that older men tend to overestimate their navigation skill more than other groups. These findings give insight into how culture and demographics may impact self-estimates of our abilities.

The relationship between object-based spatial ability and virtual navigation performance

“…In the UK sample we tested, it is likely many participants would use GPS-based systems to find their way and might rarely find themselves in the situation simulated in the wayfinding task; where a map is studied and must be committed to memory before navigation. When we recently sampled a large population, drawn from many nations and a range of ages, we found a consistent relationship between wayfinding performance in SHQ and self-rated navigation ability (Walkowiak et al, 2022). Thus, the relationship between self-ratings and wayfinding performance is likely moderated by a wide range of factors (e.g., He & Hegarty, 2020; Hegarty et al, 2006; van der Ham & Koutzmpi, 2022; Van der Ham et al, 2021).…”

“…Our team capitalised on these possibilities by developing a set of tests for navigation ability in the form of the video game app Sea Hero Quest (SHQ) (Spiers et al, 2023). We have employed SHQ to test the navigation ability of 3.9 million people across the world (Coutrot et al, 2018; Walkowiak et al, 2022). SHQ has good test-retest reliability (Coughlan et al, 2020), and has been shown to be predictive of real-world navigational performance (Coutrot et al, 2019).…”

Shorter self-reported sleep duration in men is associated with worse virtual spatial navigation performance

“…Incorporating objective sleep-based measures and neural recordings in such studies will help identify individuals who may be more likely to benefit from sleep-based therapeutic interventions and effectively target those at greater risk of cognitive decline. Additionally, conducting these studies across countries and cultures will help determine the extent to which associations between sleep and navigation performance may differ across different populations, as has been shown for both self-reported sleep duration 53 and self-reported navigation ability 54 . Such future studies would also benefit from using a broader range of virtual navigation and spatial memory tests, that extend to real-world environments 5,[55][56][57][58][59] .…”

Handedness and its association with education and spatial navigation assessed in over 400,000 participants across 41 countries

“…The link between handedness and large-scale navigation is complicated by the fact that cultural differences have a significant impact on both. Differences in nationality and culture are associated with variation in spatial navigation ability (Coutrot et al, 2018;Spiers et al, 2021;Walkowiak et al, 2022;Newcombe et al, 2022). Hand-preference distribution also varies widely between countries, likely due to different cultural pressures (Papadatou-Pastou et al, 2020): left-handers constitute 15-20% of the population in North America but only 0.06-2.8% in China (Kushner, 2013;Raymond & Pontier, 2010;Zverev, 2006).…”