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Using Naturalistic Neuroimaging to Enhance Knowledge of Sex Differences in Memory Networks

Poster Session D - Monday, March 9, 2026, 8:00 – 10:00 am PDT, Fairview/Kitsilano Ballroom

Jane O'Connor¹, Shaylyn Kress², Dave Smith³, Keva Klamer⁴, Joshua Craig⁵, Alireza Taheritorbati⁶, Sabrina Werner⁷, Rylee Wevers⁸, Niayesh Allahdad⁹, Chelsea Ekstrand¹⁰; ¹University of Lethbridge

Males and females exhibit differences in episodic memory, both behaviourally and neurally. For example, females have a general episodic memory advantage, as well as higher connectivity in the posterior default mode network (DMN) and lower connectivity in the anterior DMN compared to men. There are significant advantages to using naturalistic stimuli (such as audiovisual movies) for uncovering memory networks, however, few studies have used such stimuli to investigate network differences in delayed memory recognition between males and females. In this study, 35 older adults (age 55-75, 17 female) encoded six narrative driven, naturalistic scenes. Seven days later, all participants completed a delayed recognition task during fMRI, where they viewed three previously encoded and three novel scenes. To identify differences in functional connectivity during recognition between males and females, we used functional connectivity multivariate pattern analysis (fc-MVPA) with post-hoc seed-based connectivity (SBC) analyses. Fc-MVPA revealed four clusters where functional connectivity differed between males and females for the encoded vs. novel scenes, including the left hippocampus, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, right angular gyrus, and the right cerebellum. SBC from these ROIs showed widespread between-network differences between males and females. Notably, the left hippocampal ROI showed significantly greater connectivity for males with the DMN than for the females. These results provide evidence of unique differences between males and females in neural connectivity during episodic memory recognition, particularly between the DMN and hippocampus. More broadly, we provide valuable insight into network level sex differences in more true-to-life episodic memory conditions in older adults.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Episodic