SOLVING SPATIAL PUZZLES: GENDER VARIATIONS IN ROUTE PLANNING AND NAVIGATION

Abstract

Problem-solving is a complex cognitive process and can be observed through the linguistic choices of the people. The present study aims to examine problem-solving in route planning and navigation tasks as reflected in the linguistic choices of the participants. Not much research has been conducted to study the difference between males and females during problem-solving in both abstract and real time situations. The present study tries to fill in that gap and aims to find the difference in the approach of males and females towards problem-solving and to examine the nature of knowledge structures utilized by them in route planning on map as compared to the real- time navigation through their language use. An activity was conducted with the participants who were new and unfamiliar with the environment of the university where they were asked to plan a route on map and then navigate it in real time. Cognitive Discourse Analysis (Tenbrink, 2015) was employed to collect and analyze the data. The linguistic data was collected through think-aloud protocol and retrospective interview questions. To examine the nature of knowledge structures through linguistic data, the theory of domains (Langacker, 1987) was used. It was found that there is no significant difference in the approach of male and female participants towards problem solving. The present study can be helpful in understanding the complex cognitive processes through language and can open doors for further research to understand other cognitive processes through the language use.