Who will have a better memory, men or women?

Most of the people experience memory problems as they get older. It is a well-documented consequence of the aging process. Epidemiological estimates propose that approximately 75% of older adults report memory-related problems. Alcoholism, emotional disorders, brain diseases, and vitamin deficiency are the few causes of memory loss. Are you eager to know who has the better memory men or women? Studies show that women have better memory than men. Want to know more about it? Let’s have a look. 

Why Do Women Have a Better Memory than Men?

Well, it’s true women have better memories than men. Women aged 45-55 performed better in all memory measures, despite experiencing a decline around menopause. 

Who remembers better men or women? In a recent study, the researchers in Boston suggested that compared to men, women were found to have a better memory. 

As per the study, the gender memory research evaluated close to 212 men and women( aged between 45-55 years), by putting them through challenging memory tests to evaluate their episodic memory and semantic processing. It investigated the performance of women and men across different age groups and stages of reproductive life. 

About 75% of people have experienced memory problems as they get older. The causes include dementia Alzheimer’s disease(AD and other health complications.  Women are more likely to be affected by AD and dementia than men. Some researchers have found that women have difficulty in verbal fluency at some times, too. Nevertheless, women with healthy aging brains will continue to have an edge over their male counterparts regarding memory function, even in mid-life and older age. In fact, some studies suggest that, even from childhood days, women outperform men in memory strength. This is especially true of verbal memory. The difference becomes more significant after puberty, and it continues till adulthood. 

Research has shown that verbal and associative aspects of memory are more likely to be impaired than nonverbal memory before the age of 50 years and are more likely to face additional cognitive impairments mostly after the age of 65 years.

The study about the men vs women memory has suggested that women with a longer reproductive life, are exposed to hormones for a longer span and thereby have a better immediate and delayed verbal memory in their later lives. It investigated the performance of women’s and men’s memory across different age groups and stages of reproductive life. 

The Role of Sex in Memory Function

According to the research by Paul D. Loprinzi and Emily Frith on “The Role of Sex in Memory Function: Considerations and Recommendations in the Context of Exercise,” sex plays a vital role in influencing memory types. 

Research Findings

“There is a piece of evidence to suggest that biological sex plays a significant role in memory function, with sex differentially influencing the memory type. In this part, we detail the current evidence evaluating sex-specific effects on the various memory types. In demented populations, females tend to have a greater memory impairment than males. We will also discuss the potential mechanisms that explain these types of sex-specific effects, which include the sex differences in neuroanatomy.”

In this research, such a differential effect is plausible given the clear sex-specific effects on memory and molecular mediators of memory. This emphasizes that future work should be carefully powered to depict gender differences. Basically, women tend to perform better than males in verbal-based episodic memory tasks, as opposed to spatial-based memory tasks. And they generally access their memories faster than the males and they indeed use more emotional terms when describing the memories. Superior verbal memory for females also appears to be independent of intelligence level. Additionally, females also have a greater specificity for the events imagined to occur in their future. 

Spatial-based Memory Tasks

Spatial memory is a cognitive process that enables a person to remember different locations as well as spatial relations between objects. In general, females used to outperform males on autobiographical memory, particularly with the high retrieval support via verbal. Females tend to use an egocentric spatial strategy, which involves their memory strength. However, males tend to employ an allocentric strategy, which involves using a mental spatial map and orienting oneself in terms of absolute direction. The male advantage in spatial-based memory tasks can be eliminated or even reversed when salient landmark information is available throughout the memory task. 

Gender Differences in Episodic Memory

A recent study has examined the potential gender differences in episodic memory, semantic memory, and primary memory. Nearly, five hundred thirty women and 470 men, were randomly selected for a sample from the city of Umea, Sweden, 35-80 years of age, participated in this study. There were no very big differences between men and women in age or education, or on a measure of global intellectual functioning. Men outperformed women on a visuospatial task and women outperformed men on tests of verbal fluency. In addition, the results illustrate that women have consistently performed at a higher level than men on the episodic memory tasks, although there were no differences between the men and women on the tasks of semantic memory and primary memory. The women’s higher level of performance on the episodic memory tasks could not be fully explained by their higher verbal ability. 

Author Note: This article is based on the evidence found on https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6028920/

FAQ

Who has a better memory males or females?

Females tend to perform better than males in verbal-based episodic memory tasks, as opposed to spatial-based memory tasks. Females generally access their memories faster than males. 

Who remembers more men or women?

Generally, women perform better when it comes to remembering verbal information, such as words, sentences, texts, and objects, but also the location of objects, and movies. Men can better recall abstract images and remember their way back from one location to another. 

Which gender has better working memory?

Female has better working memory than males. Females generally access their memories more faster than males. Males have quicker reaction time than females but females have more accurate responses. 

Does gender affect memory?

Mostly, gender does not affect the memory. In general, females outperform males in autobiographical memory and auditory episodic memory. Women have better memory, particularly in tasks like spatial-based memory functions. However, it can vary widely among individuals regardless of gender.