WHO REMEMBERS WHAT? GENDER DIFFERENCES IN MEMORY

He: We met at 9.

She: We met at 8.

He: I was on time.

She: No. you were late.

He: Ah yes, I remember it well.

He: We dined with friends. She: We dined alone.

He: A tenor sang.

She: A baritone.

He: Ah yes, i remember it well.

(“I Remember It Well,” sung by Maurice Chevalier and Hermione Gingold in Gigi)

He remembers meeting at 9, that he was on time, that they dined with friends, while a tenor sang. She remembers meeting at 8, that he was late, that they dined alone, while a baritone sang. There is humor in these differences, which derives in part from highlighting the fallibility in his memory

for this “important” social occasion. But the example also brings us quickly to the main question we pose here: When men and women try to recall the past, who remembers what ?

Research shows gender differences in episodic memory. These differences vary in magnitude as a function of the type of material to be remembered. Throughout the life span, verbal episodic-memory tasks yield differences favoring women. In contrast, episodic-memory tasks requiring visuospatial processing result in differences favoring men. There are also sex differences favoring women on episodic-memory tasks requiring both verbal and visuospatial processing and on face-recognition tasks.

Hypothesis

Women outperform men on tasks that are verbal in nature and men have an advantage in tasks requiring visuospatial processing.

Procedure

The experiment took place in British International School, Pakistan. An opportunity sample of grade 10, 11 and A levels was taken. The experiment was carried out during a span of 7 days. The experiment was split into seven tests, each test requiring a different material to be remembered. These were the following tests :

1. VERBAL

The partic...

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...y. In addition, differences in the historical social roles of the two genders have undoubtedly contributed to the development of different interests as well as different expectations regarding the types of activities at which each gender should excel. Though presently unexplainable, the gender differences identified in this study still provide an important insight: If She remembers better than He that they met at 8, that he was late, that they dined alone while a baritone sang, there will be something else that He will remember better than She.

Works Cited

Linton, M. “I Remember It Well.” psychology today july 1979



Agneta Herlitz and Jenny Rehnman (2008) “Sex Differences in Episodic Memory.” Current Directions in Psychology.

Loftus, E.F. Banaji, M.R.,Schooler, J.W.,& Foster, R.(1987). Who remembers what ?: Gender differences in memory. Michigan Quarterly Review