Gender Differences in Verbal and Visuospatial Working Memory Tasks in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer Disease

Abstract

Background/Aims: To date, there are few studies on gender differences in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer disease (AD). In the present study, the existence of differences between sexes in verbal and visuospatial working memory tasks in the evolution of cognitive and pathological aging was examined. Method: Ninety participants took part in this study: 30 AD, 30 MCI, and 30 healthy elderly participants (50% men and 50% women). Results: There were no significant differences between men and women with AD in visuospatial tasks, whereas these differences were found within the MCI group, with the average of men achieving significantly higher results than women. In verbal tasks, there were no differences between sexes for any of the groups. Conclusion: Execution in visuospatial tasks tends to depend on gender, whereas this does not occur for verbal tasks.

Keywords

• Alzheimer disease
• Mild cognitive impairment
• Gender differences
• Working memory
• Visuospatial span tasks
• Verbal span tasks