Sex Differences in Mobility and Spatial Cognition: A Test of the Fertility and Parental Care Hypothesis in Northwestern Namibia.

The fertility and parental care hypothesis interprets sex differences in some spatial-cognitive tasks as an adaptive mechanism to suppress women's travel. In particular, the hypothesis argues that estrogens constrain travel during key reproductive periods by depressing women's spatial-cognitive ability. Limiting travel reduces exposure to the dangers and caloric costs of navigating long distances into unfamiliar environments.