ABSTRACT

Many functional resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have reported sex differences during long-term memory. The present fMRI investigation aimed to identify whether sex differences exist during high- versus low-confidence accurate spatial memories. During the study phase, abstract shapes were presented to the left or right of fixation. During the test phase, each shape was presented at fixation and participants made an old-“left” or old-“right” judgment followed by an “unsure” or “sure” response. The conjunction of female high- versus low-confidence spatial memory and male high- versus low-confidence spatial memory identified common activity in visual processing regions and parietal cortex, which suggests amplification of activity in some of the regions commonly associated with long-term memory yields high confidence. The contrast of female high- versus low-confidence spatial memory and male high- versus low-confidence spatial memory did not produce any significant activity. However, the reverse contrast produced greater male than female activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex, parietal cortex, sensorimotor cortex, and visual processing regions. An independent region-of-interest (ROI) analysis (ROIs were identified by contrasting hits versus misses) produced complementary results in the lateral prefrontal cortex. Greater lateral prefrontal cortex activity suggests a higher degree of subjective confidence in males than females, greater parietal cortex and visual processing activity suggests more vivid visualization in males than females, and greater activity in sensorimotor cortex indicates that males have a more reactive processing style than females. More broadly, the present and previous functional sex differences argue against the practice of collapsing across sex in cognitive neuroscience studies.

摘要

许多功能共振成像 (fMRI) 研究报告了长期记忆中的性别差异。目前的 fMRI 调查旨在确定在高可信度与低可信度准确空间记忆中是否存在性别差异。在研究阶段，抽象的形状出现在注视的左侧或右侧。在测试阶段，每个形状都在注视时呈现，参与者做出旧-“左”或旧-“右”判断，然后是“不确定”或“确定”反应。女性高自信空间记忆与低自信空间记忆与男性高自信空间记忆与低自信空间记忆的结合确定了视觉处理区域和顶叶皮层的常见活动，这表明通常与长期记忆相关的一些区域的活动放大产生高置信度。女性高自信空间记忆与低自信空间记忆与男性高自信空间记忆与低自信空间记忆的对比未产生任何显着活动。然而，相反的对比在外侧前额叶皮层、顶叶皮层、感觉运动皮层和视觉处理区域产生了比女性更多的男性活动。独立的感兴趣区域 (ROI) 分析（通过对比命中与未命中来确定 ROI）在外侧前额叶皮层中产生了互补的结果。更大的外侧前额叶皮层活动表明男性比女性具有更高的主观信心，更大的顶叶皮层和视觉处理活动表明男性比女性更生动，感觉运动皮层的更大活动表明男性比女性具有更反应性的处理方式.