College Times

Issue date: 6/19/08 Section: Sex

Media Credit: Photos.com

Why do women always remember the little things - and use them to their advantage - when they're in relationships?

There are plenty of theories: "I think girls know that making guys feel guilty is an effective way to get them to do what they want and mentioning the little things can do that," speculates Kieran Thompson, a Scottsdale Community College graduate.

And the women's perspective? "I think (I remember the little things) because I naturally put too much thought into what a guy means by the little things he is doing or says. For instance, this morning when my guy called me, the first thing he said was, 'What's up maaaan,' like he was Jamaican. My first thought was, 'Is he saying that because there is another girl around and he doesn't want them to know he is talking to a girl?'" said Mesa Community College student Heather McKechnie.

Turns out, according to recent research, the woman has it right.

Not only do women remember and read too far into conversations with their significant other like McKechnie did, they also memorize pictures, such as faces, much better than their male counterparts, according to new research by psychologusts Agneta Herlitz and Jenny Rehnman.

And this behavior - the act of storing, retaining and subsequently retrieving seemingly insignificant (to men) information is genetically predetermined. Women, it turns out, excel at what psychologists call verbal episodic memory tasks.

In a recent article by Herlitz and Rehnman that was titled, "Sex Differences in Episodic Memory," the two write that women remember the little things due to the fact that women have a long-term memory based on personal experiences. Men have this also; the only difference is women are hard-wired to exercise their verbal episodic memory tasks more often than men.

According to Herlitz and Rehnman's article, women surpass men when it comes to remembering everyday events, objects and words.

"In addition, women are better than men at remembering faces, especially of females," Herlitz and Rehnman write. "And the reason seems to be that women allocate more attention to female than male faces."

This, of course, is useful for women when they initiate arguments with their significant other with opening lines similar to, "I can't believe you think that girl's hot," when the male is caught checking a female other than his girlfriend.

McKechnie adds, "I think in the end girls just overreact and overanalyze what guys are doing. We remember the little things, good or bad, because the little things count."

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