Men better at recalling unpleasant memories: Study

Women remember events far less accurately than men if they were unpleasant and emotionally provocative, a new Canadian study has claimed.

Researchers at the University of Montreal found that men's memories were more accurate in recalling unpleasant and emotionally charged images, while women have a clearer memory of pleasant experiences.

The findings, published in the International Journal of Psychophysiology, could help shed light on why men and women remember things differently, the researchers said.

"I think it will help us understand how we remember emotional scenes that we lived in the past," study author Marc Lavoie was quoted as saying by The Montreal Gazette.
The study involved 34 participants, evenly split between men and women, looking at pictures meant to elicit either a positive or negative emotion and also to invoke a high or low level of arousal.

An example of an unpleasant, low-arousal picture was a crying baby, while a type of negative, high-intensity image was that of war. Kittens were among the positive, low-arousal pictures used, while images of a sexual nature were among those considered pleasant and high-arousal.

After one session of viewing such photos, the participants received a second round of picture viewing and were asked to recall which ones they saw earlier. They were also tested for the speed and accuracy of their answers.

It was found that women's memories were worst when it came to images such as war photos which were both highly emotional and unpleasant.

Emotion of any sort appears to disrupt womens' memories, but the effect is particularly pronounced with negative emotions, the researchers said, adding that the reason for this is not known.

"Very few memory studies have looked at how attractive or repulsive we find an experience and how emotionally provocative it is," said Lavoie.

The results are likely linked to the fact that the right hemisphere in women's brains are found to be more active in remembering than men's, and this is the half of the brain more linked with emotions, the researchers said.

This heightened activity, Lavoie said, can either enhance or "distort" the accuracy of women's memories.

With further research, these findings could help treating better post-traumatic stress disorder better, schizophrenia and hormonal effects in women, Lavoie added.