Research shows sex 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. Thus, there may be a small, general episodic-memory advantage for women-an advantage that can increase by the advantage women have over men in verbal production and can be reversed by the male advantage in visuospatial tasks. In addition, environmental factors affect the magnitude of the sex differences in episodic memory.
Earlier studies on adults have shown sex differences in face recognition. Women tend to recognise more faces of other women than men do, whereas there are no sex differences with regard to male faces. In order to test the generality of earlier findings and to examine potential reasons for the observed pattern of sex differences, two groups of Swedish 9-year-old children (n = 101 and n = 96) viewed faces of either Swedish or Bangladeshi children and adults for later recognition. Results showed that girls outperformed boys in recognition of female faces, irrespective of ethnicity and age of the faces. Boys and girls recognised Swedish male faces to an equal extent, whereas girls recognised more Bangladeshi male faces than boys did. These results indicate that three factors explain the magnitude of sex differences in face recognition: an overall female superior face recognition ability, the correspondence between the sex of viewer and the gender of the face, and prior knowledge of the ethnicity of the face.
Women remember more female than male faces, whereas men do not seem to display an own-gender bias in face recognition memory. Why women remember female faces to a greater extent than male faces is unclear; one proposition is that women attend more to and thereby process female faces more effortfully than male faces during encoding. A manipulation that distracts attention and reduces effortful processing may therefore decrease women's own-gender bias by reducing memory for female faces relative to male faces. In three separate experiments, women and men encoded female and male faces for later recognition in full attention and divided attention conditions. Results consistently showed that women, in contrast to men, displayed a reliable own-gender bias. Importantly, the magnitude of women's own-gender bias was not reduced in divided attention conditions, indicating that it is not a result of effortful processing of female faces. We suggest these results reflect that women have greater perceptual expertise for female faces, facilitating recognition memory.
Are cognitive sex differences magnified by individual differences in age, sex hormones, or puberty development? Cross-sectional samples of 12- to 14-year-old boys (n = 85) and girls (n = 102) completed tasks assessing episodic memory, face recognition, verbal fluency, and mental rotations. Blood estradiol, free testosterone, and self-rated puberty scores were obtained. Sex differences were found on all cognitive measures. However, the magnitude was not larger for older children, hormones and cognitive performance were not associated, and early maturers did not perform better than late maturers. Thus, cognitive sex differences were not associated with age, levels of sex hormones, or puberty development.
Previous research suggests that the own-race bias (ORB) in memory for faces is a result of other-race faces receiving less visual attention at encoding. As women typically display an own-gender bias in memory for faces and men do not, we investigated whether face gender and sex of viewer influenced visual attention and memory for own- and other-race faces, and if preferential viewing of own-race faces contributed to the ORB in memory. Participants viewed pairs of female or male own- and other-race faces while their viewing time was recorded. Afterwards, they completed a surprise memory test. We found that (1) other-race males received the initial focus of attention, (2) own-race faces were viewed longer than other-race faces over time, although the difference was larger for female faces, and (3) even though longer viewing time increased the probability of remembering a face, it did not explain the magnified ORB in memory for female faces. Importantly, these findings highlight that face gender moderates attentional responses to and memory for own- and other-race faces.
Objectives: The purpose of this article is to describe several evidence-based clearinghouses focused on social work and related intervention outcomes, placing them in the context of how such clearinghouses can contribute to research dissemination to foster effective, evidence-based practice. Method: The study employed an analysis of data provided in clearinghouse Web sites and internal documentation. Results: The clearinghouses are Web-based portals where quality controlled scientific evidence of what works, what is promising, or what is possibly harmful in professional practice and policy interventions is made available to professionals, decision makers, and the general public in accessible and transparent language and format. Conclusions: Evidencebased clearinghouses in social work are promising vehicles of bringing high-quality evidence to professionals, decision makers, and other end users.
-EnglishFaces constitute one of the most important stimuli for humans. Studies show that women recognize more faces than men, and that females are particularly able to recognize female faces, thus exhibiting an own-sex bias. In the present thesis, three empirical studies investigated the generality of sex differences in face recognition and the female own-sex bias. Study I explored men's and women's face recognition performance for Bangladeshi and Swedish female and male faces of adults and children. Result showed sex differences, favoring women, for all face categories. Study II assessed boys' and girls' ability to recognize female and male faces from two age-and ethnic groups. The result demonstrated that girls recognize more faces than boys do, but that no sex differences were present for Swedish male faces. The results from Study I and II consistently demonstrate that females show reliable own-sex biases independent of whether the female faces were young, old, or of Bangladeshi or Swedish origin. In an attempt to explain the mechanisms of sex differences in face recognition and the female own-sex bias, Study III investigated men's and women's recognition performance for androgynous faces, either labeled "men", "women", or "faces". The result showed that women told to remember "women" recognized more faces than women told to remember faces labeled "men" or "faces", and that sex differences were present for androgynous faces, regardless of the label. Based on these findings, it is suggested that females' attention is in particular directed towards other females, resulting in an own-sex bias. It is also suggested that there may be a difference in females' and males' orientation toward other individuals. This difference can have a biological base, which together with socialization may result in sex differences in face recognition.Keywords: Face recognition, Sex differences, Own-sex bias, Own-group bias, Attention, Biology, Socialization, Psychobiosocial Sammanfattning -SvenskaAnsikten utgör troligtvis de allra viktigaste objekten för människors sociala samspel. Forskning visar att kvinnor generellt kommer ihåg fler ansikten än män och att flickor och kvinnor är särskilt bra på att minnas andra kvinnors ansikten -de visar en "own-sex bias". "Own-sex bias" innebär att personer är bättre på att minnas ansikten av individer av samma kön i jämförelse med ansikten av personer av motsatt kön. Ett fåtal tidigare studier har undersökt könsskillnader i ansiktsigenkänning. I avhandlingen undersöks hur allmän-giltig könsskillnad i ansiktsigenkänning är och hur allmängiltig kvinnlig "own-sex bias" är. I Studie I studerades kvinnors och mäns förmåga att minnas bangladeshiska och svenska flick-, pojk-, kvinno-och mansansikten. Resultatet visar att kvinnor minns fler ansikten oavsett kategori. I Studie II undersöktes flickors och pojkars förmåga att minnas bangladeshiska och svenska flick-, pojk-, kvinno-och mansansikten. Resultaten i Studie II replikerar resultaten från Studie I, då flickor kände igen fler ansikten än...
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