SEX-DIFFERENCES IN OBJECT LOCATION MEMORY

The ability to remember where objects were is thought to require multi ple separate processes. One has to encode the precise positions occupi ed, assign the various objects to the correct (relative) locations, an d achieve an integration of both types of spatial information. This st udy examined whether sex differences exist fur these selective compone nts of object location memory. Twenty males and 20 females participate d in the following task. On a PC screen, they were shown a square with 10 different objects for 30 s. Subsequently, the objects disappeared from thr screen, reappeared in a row above the square, and subjects we re asked to relocate them in three different conditions. In the object -to-position-assignment condition. the original positions were premark ed in the square, so subjects needed only to assign the correct object to the correct position. In the positions-only condition, all objects assumed the same identity. Therefore, subjects had only to reproduce the precise positions. Finally, in the combined condition. subjects we re required to replace all the different objects in the square without any of object positions premarked. The absolute displacements between an object's original and its relocated position reflect the integrati on mechanism. Females did as well as males in the object-to-position-a ssignment condition and on thr absolute displacements in die combined condition, but they were less efficient than males in positional recon struction per se. ?hus, it seems that the male advantage in spatial me mory is not a general effect but applies only to certain specific prof essing components. Moreover, the employment of a dual task during enco ding, concurrent articulatory suppression, yielded no significant inte ractions with stir. This suggests that females' weaker positional enco ding does not derive from the use of an inefficient verbal strategy. ( C) 1998 Academic Press.