Neuropsychology, Vol 40(2), Feb 2026, 201-215; doi:10.1037/neu0001055Objective: Females typically perform slightly better than males on memory tests, but this may be partially explained by gender-related biases in remembering the test content. Sex/gender-related differences are underexplored on tests designed to detect subtle Alzheimer’s disease-related memory impairment. We studied sex differences on memory tests among older adults, particularly focusing on the Face-Name test (FNAME-12). Specifically, we investigated whether participants were biased toward remembering stimuli that matched their own sex. Method: Cognitively normal participants (n = 452) completed cognitive tests including FNAME-12 at baseline (aged ∼70 years) and follow-up (aged ∼73). FNAME-12 stimuli comprise male and female faces, with names and occupations. Recall and recognition were tested with delays of up to 7 days. We investigated how FNAME-12 outcomes were affected by stimulus gender and participant sex. We examined correlations between “gender bias scores” at baseline and follow-up. Results: Women outperformed men on memory tests including FNAME-12. Men and women recalled more male than female stimuli, with this discrepancy being two to three times greater among men (baseline: men d = 0.52, women d = 0.15; follow-up: men d = 0.58, women d = 0.25). Seven-day retention rates for male stimuli were higher (recall d = 0.32; recognition d = 0.41). Baseline and follow-up “gender bias scores” were weakly to moderately correlated. Conclusions: We observed a gender bias on FNAME-12—particularly among male participants—where male stimuli were better remembered than female stimuli. This bias showed some consistency over ∼2.5 years. Sex differences on memory tests require careful interpretation, as they may be partially explained by gender-related bias in the learning and recall of test content. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)
If you do not see content above, kindly GO TO SOURCE.
Not all publishers encode content in a way that enables republishing at Neuro.vip.
This post is Copyright: | March 2, 2026
Neuro-General