Sex differences in verbal working memory: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Voyer, Daniel; Aubin, Jean Saint; Altman, Katelyn; Gallant, Genevieve

doi:10.1037/bul0000320

Cited by 52 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 102 publications

(187 reference statements)

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“…However, one could argue that 30 seconds of distractor activity does not provide a stringent test of the influence of production on retrieval from LTM. In effect, the duration for which the information can be maintained in short-term or working memory is controversial (Cowan, 2017a;Voyer, Saint-Aubin, Altman, & Gallant, 2021) and some theorists suggest that some portion of working memory may remain active for up to a minute (see Cowan, 2017b, for a review). The duration of the retention interval was less of a concern in Experiment 2 in which PRODUCTION EFFECT AND SERIAL POSITIONS 25 long lists were used, but as mentioned above, some of those effects could have been clouded by floor level performance.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The production effect over the long term: Modeling distinctiveness using serial positions.

Cyr¹,

Poirier²,

Yearsley³

et al. 2022

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

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The production effect is a well-established finding: If some words within a list are read aloud, that is, produced, they are better remembered than their silently read neighbors. The effect has been extensively studied with long-term memory (LTM) tasks. Recently, using immediate serial recall and short-term order reconstruction, Saint-Aubin et al. (2021) reported informative interactions between the production effect and serial positions. Here, we asked whether these interactions would also be observed with the LTM tasks used in the field. In Experiment 1, pure and mixed lists of 8 words were presented in both order reconstruction and free recall tasks, with a 30-second filled retention interval. In Experiment 2, the list length was extended to 24 words; in Experiment 3, 10-word lists were used with a 2-minute retention interval. Results from all experiments aligned well with those observed in short-term memory. With mixed lists, where produced and silently read words alternated, produced items were better recalled, leading to sawtooth serial position curves. With pure lists, produced items were better recalled when studied in the last serial positions, but they were less well recalled for the primacy positions.Results were readily accounted for by the Revised Feature Model, originally developed to explain short-term memory performance. The findings and model suggest that produced items are encoded with more item-specific, modality-related features, that this generates a relative distinctiveness advantage in short-and long-term memory. However, the richer encoding comes at a cost: it appears to disrupt rehearsal.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The production effect over the long term: Modeling distinctiveness using serial positions.

Cyr¹,

Poirier²,

Yearsley³

et al. 2022

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Hippocampal system and memory measures consistently show sex differences in NT samples, and there is some evidence for sex by diagnosis interactions in ASD (Braden, Dassel, et al, 2017; Braden, Smith, et al, 2017; Voyer et al, 2021). In middle‐age adults 40–64 years, we previously found smaller bilateral hippocampal volumes in autistic men, compared with a matched NT men (Braden, Dassel, et al, 2017, Braden, Smith, et al, 2017) but no difference was detected by Koolschijn and Geurts (2016) with a mixed sex sample ranging from 30 to 75 years old.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of age on the hippocampus and verbal memory in adults with autism spectrum disorder: Longitudinal versus cross‐sectional findings

et al. 2022

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Research studying aging in adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is growing, but longitudinal work is needed. Autistic adults have increased risk of dementia, altered hippocampal volumes and fornix integrity, and verbal memory difficulties compared with neurotypical (NT) adults. This study examined longitudinal aging in middle-age adults with ASD versus a matched NT group, and compared findings with cross-sectional age effects across a broad adult age range. Participants were 194 adults with (n = 106; 74 male) and without (n = 88; 52 male) ASD, ages 18-71. Participants (n = 45; 40-70 age range) with two visits (2-3 years apart) were included in a longitudinal analysis. Hippocampal volume, fornix fractional anisotropy (FA), and verbal memory were measured via T1-weighted MRI, diffusion tensor imaging, and the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, respectively. Longitudinal mixed models were used for hippocampal system variables and reliable change index categories were used for Auditory Verbal Learning Test analyses. Multivariate regression was used for cross-sectional analyses. Middle-age adults with ASD had greater longitudinal hippocampal volume loss and were more likely to show clinically meaningful decline in short-term memory, compared with NT. In contrast, cross-sectional associations between increasing age and worsening short-term memory were identified in NT, but not autistic adults. Reduced fornix FA and long-term memory in ASD were found across the broad cross-sectional age range. These preliminary longitudinal findings suggest accelerated hippocampal volume loss in ASD and slightly higher rates of clinically-meaningful decline in verbal short-term memory. Contradictory cross-sectional and longitudinal results underscore the importance of longitudinal aging research in autistic adults. Lay SummaryAutistic adults have increased risk of dementia, differences in brain memory structures, and difficulty with memory compared with neurotypical (NT) adults. However, there are no publications that follow the same middle-age autistic adults over time to see how their brain and memory change. Our preliminary findings in a small middle-age autism sample suggest a key memory brain structure, the hippocampus, may shrink faster over 2-3 years compared with NT, and short-term memory may become more challenging for some. Across a broad adult range, autistic adults also had reduced integrity of connections to the hippocampus and greater challenges with long-term memory. In our larger sample across a broad Broc A. Pagni and Melissa J. M. Walsh contributed equally to this work.

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“…Previous literature suggests being choked/strangled, both in cases of IPV and as a partnered sexual behavior, is highly gendered, with significantly more women being choked/strangled as compared to men (McClane et al, 2001 ; Herbenick et al, 2021e ). Additionally, sex differences have been reported in working memory behavioral performance (Voyer et al, 2017 , 2021 ) and fMRI activation during working memory tasks (Bell et al, 2006 ; Zilles et al, 2016 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Frequent and Recent Non-fatal Strangulation/Choking During Sex and Its Association With fMRI Activation During Working Memory Tasks

Huibregtse

Alexander

Klemsz

et al. 2022

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

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Being strangled, or “choked,” by a sexual partner has emerged as a prevalent, often wanted and consensual sexual behavior among adolescent and young adult women, yet the neurological consequences of repeated exposure to this behavior are unknown. The objective of the study was to examine the association between a history of repeated, recent choking/strangling episodes during sex and fMRI activation during working memory tasks in young adult women. This case-control study involved young adult women (18–30 years old) at a large, public university, and consisted of two study groups: a choking group consisting of participants who were recently and frequently choked/strangled during sex by a partner (≥4 times in the past 30 days) and a choking-naïve (control) group who had never been choked/strangled during sex. Participants completed two variations of the N-back (0-back, 1-back, and 2-back) working memory task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): verbal and visual N-back tasks. Data from 20 participants per group were available for analysis. Between-group differences for accuracy and reaction time were not significant for either variation of the N-back task. Significant differences in fMRI activation patterns were detected between the choking and the choking-naïve groups for the three contrasts of interest (1-back > 0-back, 2-back > 0-back, and 2-back > 1-back). The choking group exhibited increased activation in multiple clusters relative to the choking-naïve group for the contrasts between the 1-back and 2-back conditions compared to the 0-back conditions (e.g., superior frontal gyrus, corpus callosum). However, the choking-naïve group exhibited increased activation relative to the choking group in several clusters for the 2-back > 1 back contrast (e.g., splenium, middle frontal gyrus). These data indicate that recent, frequent exposure to partnered sexual strangulation is associated with different neural activation patterns during verbal and visual working memory tasks compared to controls, suggesting that being choked/strangled during sex may modify the allocation of neural resources at increasing levels of cognitive load. Further investigation into the neurologic effects of this sexual behavior is warranted, given the prevalence of sexual choking among adolescent and young adult women.

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Sex differences in verbal working memory: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Cited by 52 publications

References 102 publications

The production effect over the long term: Modeling distinctiveness using serial positions.

The production effect over the long term: Modeling distinctiveness using serial positions.

Effects of age on the hippocampus and verbal memory in adults with autism spectrum disorder: Longitudinal versus cross‐sectional findings

Frequent and Recent Non-fatal Strangulation/Choking During Sex and Its Association With fMRI Activation During Working Memory Tasks

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