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Study: Men get lost easily; women know where things are GAINESVILLE, Fla (March 12, 1998 6:54 p.m. EST http://www.nando.net) - Remember the popular wisdom that men hate to ask directions, but women always know where everything is? University of Florida research released Thursday supports both beliefs, finding that men are more confident that they can remember where anything is without help, but women are actually much better at knowing where things are. "To say that when it comes to memory, women have more skill than confidence and men have more confidence than skill is a simplistic way to put it, but we found it to be true in this study," said Robin West, a psychology professor and author of the book "Memory Fitness Over Forty," who led the research. West's team studied 300 men and women, testing them by having them use computer monitors to show where they wanted to place 20 common objects in a representation of a 12-room house. Participants were given 10 second to place the items, with no more than two allowed in each room. Thirty to 45 minutes later, they were asked to recall where they put each of the items, with women consistently outperforming the men. The research team theorized that women might outperform men because they are conditioned to be supportive and typically have more experience in finding things around the house. Men might be more confident because they are socialized from birth to form strong convictions, they said. The team studied men and women aged 18-30 and 50-90, but said they believed the findings apply to all ages. Copyright 1998 Nando.net Copyright 1998 Reuters News Service janet paterson 50-9 / sinemet-selegiline-prozac almonte-ontario-canada / [log in to unmask]