Persistence of Gender Related-Effects on Visuo-Spatial and Verbal Working Memory in Right Brain-Damaged Patients.

Laura Piccardi,Giovanni D'Antuono,Paola Guariglia,Paola Ciurli,Paola Verde,Alessandro Matano,Dario Marin,Chiara Incoccia

doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00139

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to verify if gender differences in verbal and visuo-spatial working memory would persist following right cerebral lesions. To pursue our aim we investigated a large sample (n. 346) of right brain-damaged patients and healthy participants (n. 272) for the presence of gender effects in performing Corsi and Digit Test. We also assessed a subgroup of patients (n. 109) for the nature (active vs. passive) of working memory tasks. We tested working memory (WM) administering the Corsi Test (CBT) and the Digit Span (DS) using two different versions: forward (fCBT and fDS), subjects were required to repeat stimuli in the same order that they were presented; and backward (bCBT and bDS), subjects were required to repeat stimuli in the opposite order of presentation. In this way, passive storage and active processing of working memory were assessed. Our results showed the persistence of gender-related effects in spite of the presence of right brain lesions. We found that men outperformed women both in CBT and DS, regardless of active and passive processing of verbal and visuo-spatial stimuli. The presence of visuo-spatial disorders (i.e., hemineglect) can affect the performance on Corsi Test. In our sample, men and women were equally affected by hemineglect, therefore it did not mask the gender effect. Generally speaking, the persistence of the men’s superiority in visuo-spatial tasks may be interpreted as a protective factor, at least for men, within other life factors such as level of education or kind of profession before retirement.

Highlights

The clearest evidence of gender-related differences emerges in spatial abilities (Hyde, 2005)
Since neuroimaging studies demonstrated the role of critical regions (Grön et al, 2000; Nemmi et al, 2013), we investigated whether gender differences in visuo-spatial active manipulation can still be evidenced in right brain-damaged patients and whether they are linked to the nature of the stimuli to be processed or to the type of processing required
Concerning the working memory tasks, forward digit-span task (fDS) was significantly different from backward digit-span (bDS) (p < 0.01) and from fCBT (p < 0.01); likewise, fCBT was significantly different from bCBT (p < 0.01), but it did not differ from bDS (p = 0.845) (Figures 1A,B)

Summary

Introduction

The clearest evidence of gender-related differences emerges in spatial abilities (Hyde, 2005). Men have an advantage over women in tasks requiring active manipulation of mentally generated images This is explained in terms of different cognitive strategies they use (Grön et al, 2000). Grön et al (2000) found that women engage the right parietal and the right prefrontal cortex when performing a virtual maze task Men address this task by recruiting the left hippocampus. The left hippocampus activity observed in men may be due to the processing of multiple geometric cues during the navigation in the virtual maze This interpretation is in line with the hypothesis advanced by Coluccia and Iosue (2004). They hypothesized that a women’s disadvantage occurs when the visuo-spatial working memory load increases, especially in tasks requiring active processing of visuo-spatial information

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Conclusion