Gender identity better than sex explains individual differences in episodic and semantic components of autobiographical memory: An fMRI study
Laurie Compère,
Sylvain Charron,
Thierry Gallarda,
Eirini Rari,
Stéphanie Lion,
Marion Nys,
Adèle Anssens,
Sandrine Coussinoux,
Sébastien Machefaux,
Catherine Oppenheim,
Pascale Piolino
Affiliations
Laurie Compère
Université de Paris, MC2Lab, F-92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, Ile de France, France; Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, United States
Sylvain Charron
Université de Paris, IPNP, INSERM, F-75005 Paris, France
Thierry Gallarda
«Consultation dysphorie de genre», hôpital Sainte-Anne, groupe hospitalier universitaire (GHU) Paris Psychiatrie et Neuroscience, France
Eirini Rari
«Consultation dysphorie de genre», hôpital Sainte-Anne, groupe hospitalier universitaire (GHU) Paris Psychiatrie et Neuroscience, France
Stéphanie Lion
Université de Paris, IPNP, INSERM, F-75005 Paris, France
Marion Nys
Université de Paris, MC2Lab, F-92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, Ile de France, France
Adèle Anssens
Université de Paris, MC2Lab, F-92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, Ile de France, France
Sandrine Coussinoux
«Consultation dysphorie de genre», hôpital Sainte-Anne, groupe hospitalier universitaire (GHU) Paris Psychiatrie et Neuroscience, France
Sébastien Machefaux
«Consultation dysphorie de genre», hôpital Sainte-Anne, groupe hospitalier universitaire (GHU) Paris Psychiatrie et Neuroscience, France
Catherine Oppenheim
Université de Paris, IPNP, INSERM, F-75005 Paris, France
Pascale Piolino
Université de Paris, MC2Lab, F-92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, Ile de France, France; Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France; Correspondence to: Laboratoire Mémoire, Cerveau et Cognition, 71 avenue Ed. Vaillant, 92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, France.
Advances in the literature of sex-related differences in autobiographical memory increasingly tend to highlight the importance of psychosocial factors such as gender identity, which may explain these differences better than sex as a biological factor. To date, however, none of these behavioral studies have investigated this hypothesis using neuroimaging. The purpose of this fMRI study is to examine for the first time sex and gender identity-related differences in episodic and semantic autobiographical memory in healthy participants (M=19, W=18). No sex-related differences were found; however, sex-related effects of masculine and feminine gender identity were identified in men and women independently. These results confirm the hypothesis that differences in episodic and semantic autobiographical memory are best explained by gender but are an interaction between biological sex and gender identity and extend these findings to the field of neuroimaging. We discuss the importance of hormonal factors to be taken into consideration in the future.
