Gender differences in the serial position among older adults

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Gerontology

Background:

• Gender disparities exist in the age of diagnosis for Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and dementia.
• Female advantages in verbal memory across aging may contribute to these disparities.
• The serial position effect (SPE) offers a potential avenue for earlier detection of cognitive decline.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the serial position effect (SPE) in cognitively healthy older adults.
• To determine if SPE patterns differ between men and women.
• To explore the utility of SPE components in predicting memory performance and aiding in MCI/dementia diagnosis.

Main Methods:

• 338 healthy adults (50+) completed the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) List Learning task.
• Mixed-design ANOVAs and regression analyses examined SPE patterns and their relation to the RBANS Delayed Memory Index (DMI).
• Cluster analysis identified groups based on primacy and recency recall, with subsequent ANOVA examining DMI differences and gender moderation.

Main Results:

• The prototypical SPE was observed on Trial 1; delayed recall showed reduced recency.
• Men performed worse on the DMI, but gender did not interact with SPE.
• Primacy and middle recall on Trial 1, along with the recency ratio, predicted DMI scores, independent of gender.
• Participants with better primacy than recency recall showed higher DMI performance, irrespective of gender.

Conclusions:

• Focusing on Trial 1 primacy performance and the loss of recency in delayed recall can inform MCI/dementia assessment.
• These SPE components may help mitigate gender-related delays in diagnosing cognitive impairment.
• The findings support the use of specific memory recall patterns for earlier and potentially more equitable cognitive decline detection.