[Studyfinds.org] SOLNA, Sweden ‐ Who is most likely to have a memory like an elephant? A woman or a man? When it comes to specific events, a new study backs the claim that women have better recall.But researchers say memories come in many forms, and men do have some advantages. While a female may have the edge when it comes to remembering a conversation or where she last left her keys, a male is more likely to find his way back to the car. That’s because women fare better when it comes to episodic memory.
Episodic memory is the ability to remember events, such as what we did last week or whether we took our medication this morning. One of the most sensitive memory systems, it is impacted by lack of sleep, depression and aging.
A research group with the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden looked at numerous episodic memory studies conducted over three decades to uncover the truth behind the anecdotal reports of men being unable to remember as well as women such matters as who they met, who said what or where they last saw a missing object.