1. T HE GREATEST RIVALRY OF ALL TIME : M ALE VS. FEMALE C HILDREN VS. ADULTS S HORT TERM MEMORY Laura Jennings and Timina Liu Year 9 Burgmann Anglican School

2. Aim: To investigate whether males or females, children or adults, have a better short term memory. Hypothesis: Females are expected to have a better short term memory and children are expected to have better short term memory then adults. Materials: Males and females of varying ages 4 lists of random 10 numbers 4 Lists of random 10 words

3. M ETHOD : 1. Four lists of 10 random numbers and words were written up. 2. Participants with varying ages and genders were selected. 3. Each participant was told numbers one at a time for them to repeat until they made a mistake or could not remember. 4. This was repeated for all 4 lists of words and numbers to gain accurate results. 5. The results were then recorded. 6. Steps 3-5 were repeated for all participants.

4. R ESULTS : The graph above shows females performed better than males on average when memorising both numbers and words. This shows females have a better short term memory than males.

5. R ESULTS : The graph above shows children performed just as well as adults on average when memorising numbers and better than adults when memorising words. This shows children have a better short term memory than adults.

6. D ISCUSSION : The results showed males were better at remembering numbers than words and females were the opposite. Children and adults were both better with words than numbers. The results supported the hypothesis. Females do have better short term memory than males and children do have a better short term memory than adults. Difficulties included some participants having language restrictions and other noises or activities distracting them. This could be improved by doing the experiment in the participant’s native language or doing the experiment in a quiet room free from distractions.

7. C ONCLUSION The results from this conclusion support the hypothesis: females have a better short-term memory than males and that children have a better short term memory than adults. These results are useful to real life situations for those who have to deal with people with short term memory loss, for curious students and as information in research papers/debates.

8. B IBLIOGRAPHY Physicians, A. A. (2010). Memory loss with aging: what's normal, what's not. Retrieved August 17, 2010, from FamilyDoctor.org: http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/seniors/ common-older/124.html http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/seniors/ common-older/124.html Witmer, D. (2010). Teens. Retrieved August 15, 2010, from About.com: http://parentingteens.about.com/od/sciencefairprojecti deas/a/projects28.htm http://parentingteens.about.com/od/sciencefairprojecti deas/a/projects28.htm Labkovsky, E. B. (2010). Memory. Retrieved September 1, 2010, from Brain Behaviour Optimization Center: http://www.brainbehavioroptimization.com/simple.ph p?f=_spec_Memory.php&t=Memory http://www.brainbehavioroptimization.com/simple.ph p?f=_spec_Memory.php&t=Memory