E-ISSN : 2733-4538
This study was conducted to examine possible sex differences in memory ability among Korean children. A Korean version of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) and Rey Complex Figure Test (RCFT) was administered to 314 Korean boys and 243 Korean girls between the ages of 7 and 15 years. Results indicated that Korean girls performed better than Korean boys on both memory tests. Five out of 9 memory measures (7 RAVLT, 2 RCFT) indicated a significant sex difference favoring girls. Of the remaining 4 measures, 3 indicated a higher mean performance for girls compared to boys. Effect sizes for the sex differences were relatively small in magnitude and mean d was .17 for RAVLT and .18 for RCFT. Many previous studies involving children as well as adults and older adults have shown significant differences in verbal memory performance favoring women over men. However, sex differences in visuospatial memory performance were less consistent across studies. Thus, it may be tentatively concluded that girls are superior to boys in verbal memory function. However, further studies are needed to draw a firm conclusion regarding sex differences in visuospatial memory function. Both biological and environmental factors likely contribute to sex differences in memory ability. However, given that sex differences in memory favoring women are found across different cultures and appear at a relatively early age, biological factors may play more important roles than environmental ones.
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