Gender differences in the retention of Swahili names for unfamiliar odors.

Full Abstract

Several studies, using different techniques, have established that women typically outperform men in naming odors. The mechanism for this effect was explored here in two experiments. In experiment 1, men and women learned randomly assigned Swahili names for a set of seven unfamiliar odors. Following multiple acquisition trials, participants were retested 1 week later. Although learning rates were identical during acquisition, after the 1 week interval, females were able to name more of the odors than men. Experiment 2 used a similar design but also included a retroactive interference task following the 1 week retention interval test. Although the week-long interval had the same effect as in experiment 1, interference had no effect on male or female performance. These results suggest that under conditions where experience is equated, female naming advantage may result from better consolidation of the learned material.

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Author information

Author/s: Dempsey, Rochelle A (RA); Stevenson, Richard J (RJ);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Australia.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Chemical senses (Chem Senses), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Oct; vol 27 (issue 8) : pp 681-9

Dates: Created 2002/10/15; Completed 2003/03/20; Revised 2007/11/15;

PMID: 12379592, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Memory
Mental Recall
Middle Aged
Odors
Semantics
Sex Factors
Terminology as Topic
Time Factors

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