Does gender affect short term memory

Gender and Short-Term Memory: Are There Any Differences Between Men and Women?

Stereotypes or truth? We've all heard that men forget about important dates, like their girlfriend's or wife's birthdays or anniversaries. We've also heard that women might be unable to remember a short address, or find a location, even if proper instructions were given right beforehand. All these things make us wonder if there is a connection between genders and short-term memory or not.

Short-term memory is, basically, a person's ability to remember small pieces of information adequately for a short time, and then forgetting them after using them and after they're no longed needed. Now, apart from long-term memory, which is with us forever, short-term memory should be there to help us with things needed to be settled quickly but then become useless soon after.

A Gender Study of Short-term Memory

Numerous tests have been performed to investigate which gender — or rather, mostly, biological sex, which isn't always the same as gender — has better short-term memory.

"Common wisdom", which of course isn't always so wise, seems to hold that men are better with memorizing roads, streets, trivia and things like that, while women are dominant in the field of multitasking and memorizing dates, birthdays and similar things.

Many people have claimed that this is due to the preferences or priorities of each gender, and the interests of each single individual, regardless of gender. However, other people, basing their views on gender theory, believe that men and women might have different kinds of short-term memories. Men might be better with remembering things that require spatial insight for a short while, and women, traditionally in charge of family, the home, and often doing many things at once, developed their own short-term memory skills based on multi-tasking.

They're not completely wrong — science is science, regardless of political agenda, and quite a few studies have indicated that women have a slightly better short-term memory while also being able to remember more things at once, thus making them better at multitasking. Some studies have even implicated the female hormone estrogen in this, which could also explain why some women don't have very efficient short-term memories.

The differences seem statistically signficant but not enormous, and of course, not every person will follow the expected pattern, as indivudual differences still matter a lot.

Another issue is short-term memory loss. Namely, since both of the genders can endure this acute inability to recall recent things from their lives, there is a question whether one gender is more susceptible to short-term memory loss than the other is.

However, those people with competitive personalities will have to be disappointed here, since both genders seem to be equally prone to short-term memory loss. Namely, short-term memory loss is a product of old age and the deterioration of our mental and neurological well-being. All in all, the battle continues for those who want to fight it, since none of these issues has been proven scientifically. Stereotypes remain, and so do those willing to prove them or prove them wrong.