"Do You See What I See?
Gender Differences in Memory Formation and Retention"

Abstract of a paper by Shane Robinson

The purpose of this project is to determine if there are differences between genders in memory formation and retention. A comparably number of males and females were tested for free recall and cued recognition using both pictorial and verbal tests. The prediction was that the females would remember more of the details in the pictures and story; whereas, males would remember more of the action and spatial arrangement. Pictures were selected and slides made of 20 difference pictures. 81 subjects were tested over a three-week period, using four different testing formats. The subjects were first shown the 20 slides and asked to write a brief description of each slide that they remembered -- free recall. The subjects were then asked specific details about selected slides -- cued recognition. The third test required the subjects to match up 6 card pairs and record the number of tries necessary to complete it accurately -- spatial arrangement. The fourth test asked subjects to read a short story and then answer 6 questions about the story -- cured recognition. Based on the testing results, the females remembered 50.25% of the total slides, whereas the males remembered 48.65% of the slides. The female subjects outperformed the males in 5 of the 8 slide detail recognition tests. In the matching test, the males outperformed the females with only 9.58 tries to 10.59 attempts. On the story test, the males slightly outperformed the females with 5.35 questions correct compared to the females getting 5.29 questions right. They hypothesis was supported by the results of the testing. Gender does play a role in memory formation and retention; males and females do remember differently.

Shane Robinson