Sex, but not Apolipoprotein E Polymorphism, Differences in Spatial Performance in Young Adults.
The purpose of this study was to examine how sex and apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype contribute to individual differences in spatial learning and memory. The associations of APOE genotype with neurocognitive function have been well studied among the elderly but less is known at earlier ages. Young adults (n = 169, 88 females) completed three neurocognitive tasks: mental rotation, spatial span, and Memory Island, a spatial navigation test. Males outperformed females on all three tasks: finding the hidden targets more quickly on Memory Island (Cohen's d = 0.62) and obtaining higher scores on mental rotation (d = 0.54) and spatial span (d = 0.37). In contrast, no significant effects of APOE were observed. The identified sex differences elaborate upon past literature documenting sexually dimorphic performance on specific neurobehavioral tasks.
Department of Psychology, Willamette University, Salem, OR, USA.
Alia L
AL
Yasen
Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA.|Division of Neuroscience and Department of Neurology, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA.
Jacob
J
Raber
Department of Psychology, Willamette University, Salem, OR, USA.
Jeremy K
JK
Miller
Department of Psychology, Willamette University, Salem, OR, USA. piperbj@husson.edu.|Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA. piperbj@husson.edu.|Department of Basic Pharmaceutical Sciences, Husson University, Bangor, ME, 04401, USA. piperbj@husson.edu.
Brian J
BJ
Piper
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001053:Apolipoproteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D055815:Young Adult
D001053:Apolipoproteins
Apolipoprotein E; Learning; Memory; Sex differences; Young adults