Sex differences in episodic memory: The impact of verbal and visuospatial ability

The impact of verbal and visuospatial ability on sex differences in episodi c memory was investigated. One hundred men and 100 women, 20-40 years old, participated in a series of verbal and visuospatial tasks. Episodic memory was assessed in tasks that, to a greater or lesser extent, were verbal or v isuospatial in nature. Results showed that women excelled in verbal product ion tasks and that men performed at a superior level on a mental rotation t ask. In addition, women tended to perform at a higher level than men on mos t episodic memory tasks. Taken together, the results demonstrated that (a) women perform at a higher level than men on most verbal episodic memory tas ks and on some episodic memory tasks with a visuospatial component, and (b) women's higher performance on episodic memory tasks cannot fully be explai ned by their superior performance on verbal production tasks.