Age and gender interactions on verbal memory performance

Kramer, Joel H.; Yaffe, Kristine; Lengenfelder, Jeanne; Delis, Dean C.

doi:10.1017/s1355617703910113

Cited by 87 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…This suggests that younger girls do indeed outperform boys on delayed recall, a finding that might be related to a better development of strategy use by girls (Cox & Waters, 1986), and this is line with studies that report no sex differences for the other measures of verbal learning (Alloway et al, 2006;Gathercole et al, 2004). However, based on these on these findings, we cannot rule out that sex differences are marginal or present but too subtle to be noticed, as has been suggested by other studies (Kramer et al, 2003;Van Den Burg & Note. * = significant.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…Studies that report sex differences indicate that girls outperform boys in overall VLT performance, which has been ascribed to better memory strategy use by girls (Cox & Waters, 1986). However, some studies reported only marginally better verbal learning performance by girls (Van Den Burg & Kingma, 1999) or reported that sex differences (in adults) were too subtle to notice (Kramer, Yaffe, Lengenfelder, & Delis, 2003), while other studies reported no sex differences (Alloway, Gathercole, & Pickering, 2006;Gathercole, Pickering, Ambridge, & Wearing, 2004). However, even though the findings in literature are not consistent regarding sex differences, the majority of the findings seem to indicate that girls perform (marginally) better in VLTs than boys.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Inter-individual differences in how presentation modality affects verbal learning performance in children aged 5 to 16

Meijs

Hurks

Wassenberg

et al. 2015

Child Neuropsychology

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Inter-individual differences in how presentation modality affects verbal learning performance in children aged 5 to 16

Meijs

Hurks

Wassenberg

et al. 2015

Child Neuropsychology

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“…In support of the theory that the female advantage in verbal memory may reflect a domain-specific cognitive reserve, a study found that, among healthy adults, men show an earlier decline in verbal memory compared to women. 31 The current study more directly demonstrates that the female advantage is maintained despite moderate levels of neurodegeneration. Furthermore, our results suggest that the clinical manifestation of verbal memory impairment is delayed until a more advanced level of neurodegeneration in women vs men.…”

mentioning

confidence: 52%

Better verbal memory in women than men in MCI despite similar levels of hippocampal atrophy

et al. 2016

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Objective: To examine sex differences in the relationship between clinical symptoms related to Alzheimer disease (AD) (verbal memory deficits) and neurodegeneration (hippocampal volume/ intracranial volume ratio [HpVR]) across AD stages. Methods:The sample included 379 healthy participants, 694 participants with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), and 235 participants with AD and dementia from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative who completed the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). Cross-sectional analyses were conducted using linear regression to examine the interaction between sex and HpVR on RAVLT across and within diagnostic groups adjusting for age, education, and APOE e4 status.Results: Across groups, there were significant sex 3 HpVR interactions for immediate and delayed recall (p , 0.01). Women outperformed men among individuals with moderate to larger HpVR, but not among individuals with smaller HpVR. In diagnosis-stratified analyses, the HpVR 3 sex interaction was significant in the aMCI group, but not in the control or AD dementia groups, for immediate and delayed recall (p , 0.01). Among controls, women outperformed men on both outcomes irrespective of HpVR (p , 0.001). In AD dementia, better RAVLT performance was independently associated with female sex (immediate, p 5 0.04) and larger HpVR (delayed, p 5 0.001). The cognitive reserve theory posits that favorable premorbid factors including higher education and IQ delay the onset of clinical deficits despite Alzheimer disease (AD)-related neurodegeneration because compensatory mechanisms are more readily engaged (e.g., alternate brain networks or cognitive strategies). Conclusion:1-3 The theory predicts that the onset of accelerated cognitive decline is closer in time to AD dementia diagnosis in individuals with greater cognitive reserve; however, after onset, their decline is more rapid because neurodegeneration is more advanced at that point. [4][5][6] Throughout life, women outperform men on verbal memory tasks. [7][8][9] We predict that this female advantage may reflect a sex-specific form of cognitive reserve resulting in a delay in the clinical manifestation of memory impairment until more advanced neurodegeneration overwhelms the female advantage and decline begins. Thereafter, we predict that women decline From the Einstein Aging Study and the

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“…Others that have considered this variable have shown sex differences in all age groups (Capitani et al 1998). Nonetheless, there is evidence that age predicts a decline in verbal memory significantly earlier in men than women (Kramer et al 2003).Given the lack of clear evidence for activational effects of sex hormones on verbal memory, the possibility that sex differences are a result of more fundamental differences in brain organization should be considered. Evidence from numerous sources has suggested that language abilities are distributed across the brain differently in men and women, specifically indicating that language processing is more bilateral in women, but more leftlateralized in men (Kimura 1983).…”

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confidence: 99%

Sex influences on the neurobiology of learning and memory

Andreano¹,

Cahill²

2009

Learn. Mem.

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400

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In essentially every domain of neuroscience, the generally implicit assumption that few, if any, meaningful differences exist between male and female brain function is being challenged. Here we address how this development is influencing studies of the neurobiology of learning and memory. While it has been commonly held that males show an advantage on spatial tasks, and females on verbal tasks, there is increasing evidence that sex differences are more widespread than previously supposed. Differing performance between the sexes have been observed on a number of common learning tasks in both the human and animal literature, many neither purely spatial nor verbal. We review sex differences reported in various areas to date, while attempting to identify common features of sexually dimorphic tasks, and to place these differences in a neurobiological context. This discussion focuses on studies of four classes of memory tasks for which sex differences have been frequently reported: spatial, verbal, autobiographical, and emotional memory. We conclude that the female verbal advantage extends into numerous tasks, including tests of spatial and autobiographical abilities, but that a small but significant advantage may exist for general episodic memory. We further suggest that for some tasks, stress evokes sex differences, which are not normally observed, and that these differences are mediated largely by interactions between stress and sex hormones.Sex influences on brain function are ubiquitous. Differences between the sexes have been documented at every level of neuroscience, from single neurons in cell culture to systems level processes as measured by neuroimaging. In some cases, consideration of sex may significantly alter, even reverse, conclusions about brain function drawn from the study of one sex alone (Cahill 2006). In some fields, such as the study of drug addiction, the evidence for sex differences is so strong that consideration of sex as a factor is becoming the norm, rather than the exception (Wetherington 2007).The claim that these neurobiological sex differences extend to the behavioral level has typically been more controversial. A recent review of the literature on this topic warns against the ''costs of overinflated claims of gender differences.'' The review holds that overall ''males and females are alike on most-but not all-psychological variables'' (Hyde 2005), but notes exceptions where sex does have an effect, including sexual and aggressive behaviors. Still, given how broadly sex differences are distributed on the neural level, it seems unlikely that their behavioral effects would be restricted solely to these domains.One area of behavior not considered in Hyde's review is the influence of sex on learning and memory. It is becoming increasingly clear, however, that an understanding of the neurobiological and cognitive consequences of sex is relevant across this field. In the review that follows, behavioral evidence indicating differences between men and women from numerous memory tasks will be co...

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Age and gender interactions on verbal memory performance

Cited by 87 publications

References 37 publications

Inter-individual differences in how presentation modality affects verbal learning performance in children aged 5 to 16

Inter-individual differences in how presentation modality affects verbal learning performance in children aged 5 to 16

Better verbal memory in women than men in MCI despite similar levels of hippocampal atrophy

Sex influences on the neurobiology of learning and memory

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