The Search for the Parked Car

Men and women use different spatial memory techniques to find their cars in crowded parking lots, says a study published in Applied Cognitive Psychology. The research showed women relied more on visible landmarks and took substantial detours, while men were better at estimating distances and more likely to take a direct route to the vehicle.

The subjects were 115 shoppers, 59 men and 56 women, at a mall in the Netherlands. Each underwent interviews and tests designed to assess spatial memory, or the ability to remember where things are in the world. For example, they were asked to estimate the distance from the mall exit to the car and to point to their car on a map of the 431-space lot. Subjects described the route and strategies they might use to locate their car.

About 59% of women and 42% of men reported having some or frequent problems retracing their cars in parking lots, though the difference wasn't statistically significant. Landmarks were used by 38% of women compared with 15% of men; 21% of women and 7% of men said they often took detours of up to 400 feet before finding the vehicle.

Men were significantly better than women at estimating the car's location on a map but 83% of women and 81% of men reported using conscious strategies to find it. For example, 57% of women and 66% of men park near the entrance; 63% of women and 49% of men retrace their original path; 38% of women and 32% of men use mental imagery; and about 20% of both sexes have a favorite spot. Only 4% use a mobile phone app or GPS device.

Personality might help fend off impaired cognition and dementia in older people, even if they have brain abnormalities typically associated with Alzheimer's disease, according to a study in Neurobiology of Aging. About 30% of older adults who don't have dementia are found to have plaque deposits, protein tangles and other brain-tissue changes linked with Alzheimer's.

In the study, U.S. and Swedish researchers compared personality traits and brain-tissue changes in 111 people ages 65 and older who had agreed to be autopsied after death. (Such brain abnormalities can be diagnosed only by autopsy.) The subjects included 55 people with clinically diagnosed dementia and brain abnormalities related to Alzheimer's disease; 29 cognitively normal subjects who had Alzheimer's-related brain abnormalities; and 27 cognitively normal controls with normal brain tissue. Personality tests assessed neuroticism, extraversion, openness, conscientiousness and agreeableness.

Compared with Alzheimer's subjects, asymptomatic-Alzheimer's subjects had a high degree of conscientiousness and low neuroticism. They were less vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression than controls and Alzheimer's subjects. Two key risk factors for dementia—body mass index, an indicator of obesity, and smoking—didn't influence the findings.

Researchers said emotionally stable and conscientious individuals are more likely to exercise regularly, abstain from smoking and engage in other healthy behaviors associated with a reduced risk of dementia.