Selective sex differences in declarative memory
Open accessAbstract
Sex invariance of a six-factor, higher order model of declarative memory (two second-order factors: episodic and semantic memory; and four first-order factors: recall, recognition, fluency, and knowledge) was established for 1,796 participants (35-85 years). Metric invariance of first- and second-order factor loadings across sex was demonstrated. At the second-order level, a female advantage was observed for both episodic and semantic memory. At the first-order level, sex differences in episodic memory were apparent for both recall and recognition, whereas the differences in semantic memory were driven by a female superiority in fluency. Additional tests of sex differences in three age groups (35-50, 55-65, and 70-85 years of age) indicated that the female superiority in declarative memory diminished with advancing age. The factor-specific sex differences are discussed in relation to sex differences in hippocampal function.
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Men typically outperform women on tasks assessing visuospatial and arithmetic processing, whereas women typically outperform men on tasks involving reasoning and verbal abilities.
“gender differences in cognitive functioning have long been documented, with men typically outperforming women on tasks assessing visuospatial and arithmetric processing, whereas women typically outperform men on tasks involving reasoning and verbal abilities”
From Cohort differences in cognitive aging and terminal decline in the Seattle Longitudinal Study. (2011) · cites this paper as Maitland, Herlitz, Nyberg, Backman, & Nilsson, 2004
The Discussion reports that women outperformed men on verbal fluency, supporting the verbal-ability portion of the claim. The paper's comparisons concern declarative memory; the passages do not establish a female advantage in reasoning or a male advantage in visuospatial or arithmetic processing. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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Cohort differences in cognitive aging and terminal decline in the Seattle Longitudinal Study.
Gerstorf, D., Ram, N., Hoppmann, C., Willis, S. L., & Schaie, K. W. (2011) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0023426 · Cited by 154 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Maitland, S. B., Herlitz, A., Nyberg, L., Bäckman, L., & Nilsson, L.-G.
- Affiliations
- University of Guelph (CA)
- Max Planck Society (DE)
- Umeå University (SE)
- Stockholm University (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Maitland, Scott B.
- Venue
- Memory & Cognition
- Published
- 2004-10
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1160-1169
- ISSN
- 0090-502X (ISSN-L)
- 1532-5946
- OpenAlex
- W2083064763
- Cited by
- 132
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 2.87
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Memory & Cognition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education
- Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (1988-0082:17, 1988-0082)
- National Institute on Aging (AG08235)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Keywords
- sex differences, declarative memory, episodic memory, semantic memory, metric invariance, measurement invariance, recognition memory, memory retrieval, aging, hippocampal function, sex differences in cognition
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Attention, Color Perception, Discrimination Learning, Face, Female, Humans, Male, Memory, Short-Term, Middle Aged, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Psychomotor Performance, Reading, Mental Recall, Semantics, Sex Characteristics, Sex Factors, Speech Perception, Verbal Learning
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