Men and women differ in object memory but not performance of a virtual radial maze. Behav Neurosci 2005 Aug;119(4):853-62
Date
09/29/2005Pubmed ID
16187814DOI
10.1037/0735-7044.119.4.853Scopus ID
2-s2.0-25444469897 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 95 CitationsAbstract
The present study examined sex differences in object memory by using 2-dimensional object arrays and in spatial memory by using a computerized virtual 12-arm radial maze. Virtual T-maze and water maze tasks were also used to examine sex differences in the use of spatial and nonspatial strategies during navigation. Women significantly outperformed men in recalling the locations and identities of objects. However, the sexes did not differ in the commission of working memory and reference memory errors in the radial maze or in the use of particular navigational strategies. Because arms in the radial maze may become associated with specific extramaze cues, the superior object memory demonstrated by women may have eliminated the typical male advantage found in spatial navigation tasks.
Author List
Levy LJ, Astur RS, Frick KMAuthor
Karyn Frick BA,MA,PhD Professor in the Psychology department at University of Wisconsin - MilwaukeeMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AdolescentAdult
Analysis of Variance
Discrimination Learning
Female
Humans
Male
Maze Learning
Memory
Pattern Recognition, Visual
Photic Stimulation
Sex Characteristics
Space Perception
Statistics as Topic
