Running head: GENDER AND MEMORY 1

Gender’s Effect on Different Types of Memory

Alyssa Anne Granger

Tarleton State University

GENDER AND MEMORY 2

Abstract

Gender and memory have been studied over again to determine differences between sexes and

memory devices. Research has shown there are many memory factors including spatial, episodic,

autobiographical, and verbal memory. In the articles reviewed, participants of these

investigations were of all ages, with some articles focusing on certain ages. Tasks such as virtual

reality simulations, n-back tasks, facial recognition tests, word and picture recall, and surveys

were performed for research to determine the type of memory used and to determine which sex

executed the task more efficiently and determining if gender typical assumptions regarding

execution of recall are accurate. It is shown that males excel in spatial memory and females

perform better in autobiographical. Both genders perform better or worse to episodic memory

tasks equally. The article’s limitations include lack of clarification concerning amount of time

spent on the project and improper presentation of materials. Overall, the researchers provided

excellent evidence, left the audience with meaningful knowledge and created new discussions on

memory.

Keywords: gender, memory, tasks, differences, research

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Gender's Effect on Different Types of Memory

Males and females differ in multiple ways; however, a more compelling difference is

how men and women remember certain things in their lives. Findings with statements such as,

“Memory problems increased with age, and in all age groups more men than women reported

memory problems.” (Holmen et al., 2013; León, Tascón, & Cimadevilla, 2016) unfortunately are

not about how one’s husband forgets the anniversary every year, but instead provides

information regarding a decrease in male’s certain type of memory.

Studying memory is imperative as memory affects society. Memory is the way that we

remember events based on our environment at the time. How one recalls their junior prom, a

friend’s face, and even getting around in the local grocery store involve memory, and there is a

type of memory associated with each one.

There are many types of recall and multiple studies have been conducted in order to find

the contrast between the sexes and different types of memory, such as episodic, autobiographical,

and spatial. These investigations were compelling and gave proper data that came in line with

other research leading to the same conclusions.

Methods

Autobiographical Memory

Autobiographical memory is an important type of memory and is widely discussed.

Remembering how one felt during their first audition or when taking an important standardized

test, such as the STAAR, are examples of autobiographical memory recall.

Autobiographical memory can be defined as, “…how we remember our personal past

both influences and is influenced by our current sense of self (Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000;

McAdams, 2001).” (Grysman, Merrill, Fivush, 2016).

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Autobiographical memory is an informal combination of episodic and semantic memory

as it uses both. To differentiate autobiographical memory from episodic memory, an important

thought is that autobiographical memory is feeling while episodic is factual. While

autobiographical memory is more emotion it is also widely event-based.

Testing autobiographical memory between genders consisted of research involving

surveys across different studies. Grysman, a researcher, conducted two projects over

autobiographical memory, one expanding from the other. In the first set of research, Grysman,

Merrill, and Fivush (2016) intended to discover if gender typical reactions were accurate with

autobiographical memory. With 196 participants, 98 men and 98 women, between the ages of 18

and 40, procedures for the members included completing two narrative prompts concerning one

neutral event and one high point event.

Next, they were to complete two more narrative prompts about a low point event and a

self-defining memory. Information was gathered through defining each prompt on different

levels of emotional significance. Results included, “…Self-reported emotional intensity was

predicted by gender, β = .154, p = .031” (Grysman et al., 2016) giving significant proof that

gender typical memories can be assumed.

Grysman then expanded on this article by herself in 2018 to identify gender differences

between short and long-term autobiographical memories through similar surveys. Those who

participated in this study were college students within the ages of 18 to 22 with 41 men and 53

women. The participants were to take surveys every three weeks where they “…reported eight

memory narratives, three of recent events (past day and week) and five of distant events.”

(Grysman, 2018, p. 240) therefore testing their autobiographical memory.

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By using an ANOVA, it was discovered that for short-term memory, women resulted in

better performance F’s(1, 90) > 11.99, p’s < .001, partial η2 > .118. For long-term memory,

women also had a better performance, F’s(1,91) > 6.07, p’s < .02, partial η2 > .06 (Grysman,

2018, p. 244). Women scored high on connection to others, coherence, and elaboration

(Grysman, 2018, p. 238). These results determine that women have increased autobiographical

memory in both short and long-term.

Episodic Memory

Episodic memory is the memory of events that occurred in one’s life and is usually

concerned with short-term and long-term memory (Herlitz & Rehnman, 2008). An example

would include the recall of a friend’s face or remembering when someone went to the Bahamas.

Studies that were performed to determine sex differences in episodic memory used facial

recognition tasks, recall, and BrainMap meta-analysis.

First, in a study concerning episodic memory by Herlitz, Backman, and Nilsson (1997),

there was evidence for sex differences in episodic memory. With a group of 1,000 adults

between the ages of 35-80, there were a series of tasks instructed for the participants to try and

do. Their tasks were to remember lists of words, objects, or whole activities that were previously

presented to them. The lists presented were not shown in the journal.

The results of these tasks showed that women were able to perform at a higher level than

the average man. It can also be stated that women do “better” at these tasks then men is because

women are better at verbalization. They can more easily name off what words start with the letter

“f”. However, the tasks that required visuospatial skills were better performed by men, which

will be discussed in greater detail in the spatial memory section.

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Verbalization and face recognition episodic-memory tasks favor women while episodic-

memory tasks using visuospatial techniques favor men (Hertlitz et al., 1997). Each task’s results

depend on the techniques the tasks requires the male or female to do. These findings are

interesting and puzzling, but they give strong evidence for sex differences in not just episodic

memory, but how we THINK about episodic memory tasks.

Next, Herlitz and Rehman (2008) created a study with a goal of determining face

recognition success among genders. Three groups of men and women were given each a group of

faces. Each group had “female faces”, “male faces”, or “faces”; all of the faces given were

androgynous and each group was told which “face” (male, female, or face) they were given.

Their task was to remember the faces that they saw. The faces the researchers used were not

presented in the article.

Women who were in the group “female faces” remembered more people than women

who were told to remember “male faces” and “faces”. Women also remembered more faces as a

whole than men did. This perhaps explains that women allocate more attention to female faces

than male faces. The idea that women are enhanced in episodic memory through verbalization

does not apply to facial recognition.

In addition, research done with BrainMap meta-analysis. A BrainMap meta-analysis is a

database with neuroimaging results. These results were used to display biological findings

including where in the brain certain working memories lie in accordance with genders revealing,

Meta-analysis and applied activation…results demonstrate consistent working memory

networks across genders, but also provide evidence for gender-specific networks whereby

females consistently activate more limbic (e.g., amygdala and hippocampus) and
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prefrontal structures (e.g., right inferior frontal gyrus), and males activate a distributed

network inclusive of more parietal regions. (Hill, Laird, & Robinson, 2014, p.18)

This provides a different and more concrete type of evidence for gender specific memory success

and helps back up theories.

Spatial Memory

Spatial memory is the memory of one’s environment and spatial recognition and

information also defined as “Spatial memory enhances an organism’s navigational ability.”

(Reid, Latty, Dussutour, & Beekman, 2012). When one wakes up in the middle of the night

thirsty for water, spatial memory helps guide someone to the fridge, without tripping on

something in the dark. Knowing and recalling the layout of one’s room is an example of spatial

memory.

These different memory types can be associated with better performance from certain

genders. Tasks completed by individuals to determine spatial ability include n-back tasks and

virtual reality assessments.

First, Lejbak, Crossley, and Vrbancic (2011) studied spatial memory in an effort to

differentiate n-back task success through working memory in males and females. Participants

were to take an n-back task. The n-back task focuses on testing working memory and working

memory capacity by displaying numerous images or numbers back to back for short increments

of time. The viewer is required to identify what number or image came two before. This task is

slightly difficult and can be changed depending on how far back the research would like the

participant to go in his or her memory.

There were 36 participants, 18 males and 18 females, between the ages of 17-28 years

old. With the results gathered and analyzed using an ANOVA, it was found that males were
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significantly superior to females when performing the spatial and object n-back task. As stated

above with research from Hertlitz et al. (1997), women are more successful in verbalization, so

they performed better for the Lejback et al. (2011) n-back task specifically for verbalization.

Next, a more interesting research study regarding spatial memory involves the use of

virtual reality. The goal of this research was to distinguish differences in spatial memory

between males and females. There were 135 subjects, 75 males and 60 females, between the ages

of 45-74 years old. A virtual reality assessment was conducted where participants were to open

brown boxes, discover if it was a “good” (green) or “bad” (red) box when opened, then start over

and identify where the “good” boxes lay.

An ANOVA was used to analyze four factors; age, gender, difficulty, and trial. For

gender, the participant’s results from the ANOVA found, “…Gender F(1,129) = 4.92, p > 0.05

partial 2 = 0.03…Age × Gender interaction was significant F(2, 129) = 3.46, p < 0.05 partial 2 =

0.051..” (León, Tascón, & Cimadevilla, 2016). The results concluded that results were gender

specific. It was found that males outperformed females in spatial memory tasks.

Last, an intriguing theory finds men tend to perform better in science related fields due to

the diagrams in the textbooks. These diagrams contain mental models and pictures, therefore

creating an advantage for male students, as males are continually better performing in spatial

working memory (Geiger & Litwiller, 2005).

Limitations

The Herlitz et al. (1997) article has each age and gender of the participants, which is

impressive and important to keep on record, however the list of words given to the participants to

recall was not presented, which would be interesting to look at. Next, Herlitz and Rehnman

(2008) showed androgynous faces, however, how does one define and determine what faces are
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considered androgynous? While a specific critique, mentioning how they decided the faces to use

would have been helpful.

Last, an inconsistency in research occurred when it as found there were no gender

specific spatial working memory differences in rats (Healy, Braham, & Braithwaite, 1999; ).

While rats are different from humans, rat studies lead the way for inferences of human behavior

and cognitive theories. With at least two studies declining the theory of gender-specific spatial

memory, this looks poor, however can be overturned with more research regarding humans.

Conclusions and Future Studies

These studies did a fantastic job with their research and left little speculation among their

audiences. The findings were clearly stated and the logic was explained properly. The uses of

ANOVA tests further determined their theories and were done usefully. The articles are

believable and are consistent in each other’s results.

What does this mean for equality within memory? Through the finding of biological

differences in the brain regarding memory storage, there is a slight disadvantage in truly being

equal. However, if there is a way to influence memory types despite gender, a change of social

equality will do the trick. If society views and gives females equal opportunities at work,

education, health, and more, perhaps memory will be an equal advantage and it is based on

nurture and environment (Weber, Skirbekk, Fruend, & Herlitz, 2004). In order to determine

exact origin of memory, more studies are to be conducted.

By dissecting each memory type and the research behind finding differences between

males and females, it is with many pieces of evidence that males perform excellent in spatial

memory, women are successful with autobiographical memory, and each gender performs
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equally to different factors in episodic memory tasks such as the female advantage in

verbalization.

The conversation of gender differences in memories can be shifted to these journals, as

they display coherent evidence that males and females hold recollection differently. The

importance of this research reveals societal explanations including Geiger and Litwiller’s (2005)

theory of why the science field is dominated by men instead of women. Memory studies will

continue to be imperative as we discover more about humans and memory capacity.

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