Don't forget chaps, women have superior memory, study reveals

London For women, it will be a memorable moment.

If you're a man, however, you may want to quietly forget the latest judgment in the battle of the sexes.

Scientists have determined that the female memory is more powerful than the male. Oh, and that it is likely to improve with age, while men's deteriorates.

While the pronouncement is unlikely to prove conclusive in more than a few households, there is no doubt it is based on largescale research. It pitted 10,000 50-year-olds against each other to test their powers of recall.

It is not clear why the female memory is superior — but the hormone oestrogen might play a role.

The Scottish, English and Welsh men and women who were tested are part of a long-term study into health, education and relationships.

They have been tracked since their birth in the same week in 1958 and, on turning 50, were asked by researchers at the University of London's Institute of Education to take part in memory tests and other experiments.

In the first, they listened to ten everyday words and were given two minutes to recall as many as possible. They were then required to list the same ten words five minutes later.

The women beat the men both times, scoring five per cent higher on the first test and almost eight per cent higher on the second.

They were also quicker in a third test in which they were asked to cross out as many Ps and Ws as possible in a ‘wordsearch'. In a fourth test, which involved naming as many animals as possible in a minute, men and women had identical scores, with each naming an average of 22.

The memory differences were apparent even when factors such as health and education were taken into account. The study is the first time such a large number of middle-aged men and women in the UK have had their memories tested.

Research director Professor Jane Elliott said: "What is really interesting is we found it even when we controlled for things such as how much people smoke and drink and what sort of job they are in."

She said the test results suggested the difference in memory capabilities had a biological cause. "It's not a huge difference but it's a real one," she added.

—Daily Mail