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Sex, age, and sex hormones affect recall of words in a directed forgetting paradigm
Author(s) -
Kerschbaum Hubert H.,
Hofbauer Ildiko,
Gföllner Anna,
Ebner Birgit,
Bresgen Nikolaus,
Bäuml KarlHeinz T.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of neuroscience research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.72
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1097-4547
pISSN - 0360-4012
DOI - 10.1002/jnr.23973
Subject(s) - forgetting , psychology , recall , affect (linguistics) , motivated forgetting , conversation , recall test , developmental psychology , cued speech , cognitive psychology , audiology , free recall , communication , medicine
During the course of serious discussion, an unexpected interruption may induce forgetting of the original topic of a conversation. Sex, age, and sex hormone levels may affect frequency and extension of forgetting. In a list‐method directed forgetting paradigm, subjects have to learn two word lists. After learning list 1, subjects receive either a forget or a remember list 1 cue. When the participants had learned list 2 and completed a distraction task, they were asked to write down as many recalled items as possible, starting either with list 1 or list 2 items. In the present study, 96 naturally cycling women, 60 oral contraceptive users, 56 postmenopausal women, and 41 young men were assigned to one of these different experimental conditions. Forget‐cued young subjects recall fewer list 1 items (list 1 forgetting) but more list 2 items (list 2 enhancement) compared with remember‐cued subjects. However, forget‐cued postmenopausal women showed reduced list 1 forgetting but enhanced list 2 retention. Remember‐cued naturally cycling women recalled more list 1 items than oral contraceptive users, young men, and postmenopausal women. In forget‐cued follicular women, salivary progesterone correlated positively with recalled list 2 items. Salivary 17β‐estradiol did not correlate with recalled list 1 or list 2 items in either remember‐ or forget‐cued young women. However, salivary 17β‐estradiol correlated with item recall in remember‐cued postmenopausal women. Our findings suggest that sex hormones do not globally modulate verbal memory or forgetting, but selectively affect cue‐specific processing. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.