Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim researchers have found men to be more forgetful than women.
"It was surprising to see that men forget more than women. This has not been documented before. It was also surprising to see that men are just as forgetful whether they are 30 or 60 years old. The results were unambiguous," Professor Jostein Holmen said in a press release.
For the study, the researchers surveyed around 48, 000 participants of HUNT3, a large population health study conducted in Norway. The participants were asked whether they found it difficult to remember things, names and dates. They were also asked if they could retain details from conversations and whether they could recollect what they did one year ago.
"We have speculated a lot about why men report more frequent problems with remembering than women do, but have not been able to find an explanation. This is still an unsolved mystery," said Holmen.
The researchers said that although women are better at remembering things than men, they also do struggle to recall names and dates.
People who are highly knowledgeable have good memory and those with poor education fail to remember the most. People who have anxiety and depression related problems are also more absentminded.
The study also determined that the memory problems for both men and women increase after they turn 60.
The findings have been published in BMC Psychology.
