Sj. Mckelvie et al., GENDER DIFFERENCES IN RECOGNITION MEMORY FOR FACES AND CARS - EVIDENCE FOR THE INTEREST HYPOTHESIS, Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 31(5), 1993, pp. 447-448
Two experiments investigated gender differences in recognition memory
for faces and cars. Stimuli were line drawings of cars and of adult me
n and women (Experiment 1) and photographs of real cars and of real bo
ys and girls (Experiment 2). In both experiments, performance was bett
er on faces than on cars. Regarding recognition memory for men's faces
, in Experiment 1, men's scores were higher than women's scores. Howev
er, in Experiment 2, men recognized more cars than did women, and wome
n recognized more children than did men. Results are generally consist
ent with the hypothesis that memory reflects male and female interest
in, and/or differential familiarity for, different kinds of material.