Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany.
Institute for Anatomy I, Medical Faculty & University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2021 Mar 22;11(1):6524. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-84134-8.
Males and females are subject to differences in cognitive processing strategies, i.e. the way males and females solve cognitive tasks. So far primarily reported for younger adults, this seems to be especially important in older adults, who also show sex differences in cognitive impairments. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to examine the older adult population with respect to cognitive profiles derived from a large variety of cognitive functions. Using an exploratory component analysis with consecutive confirmatory factor analysis in a sample of 676 older adults, neuropsychological performance data in a variety of cognitive domains was decomposed into cognitive components. A general cognitive profile based on the whole group fits unequally well on the two sexes. Importantly, cognitive profiles based on either males or females differ in terms of their composition of cognitive components, i.e. three components in males versus four components in females, with a generally better model fit in females. Thus, related to the established differences in processing styles between males and females the current study found a rather decomposed (or local) cognitive profile in females while males seem to show a holistic (or global) cognitive profile, with more interrelations between different cognitive functions.
男性和女性在认知加工策略上存在差异，即男性和女性解决认知任务的方式。到目前为止，这种差异主要在年轻成年人中得到报道，但在认知障碍方面存在性别差异的老年成年人中，这种差异似乎更为重要。因此，本研究的目的是在一个由大量认知功能组成的样本中，研究老年成年人的认知特征。在 676 名老年人的样本中，使用探索性成分分析和随后的验证性因素分析，将各种认知领域的神经心理学表现数据分解为认知成分。基于整个人群的一般认知特征在两性上的拟合程度并不相同。重要的是，基于男性或女性的认知特征在认知成分的组成上存在差异，即男性有三个成分，而女性有四个成分，女性的模型拟合程度普遍较好。因此，与男性和女性之间已建立的处理风格差异相关，本研究发现女性的认知特征较为分散（或局部），而男性则表现出整体（或全局）认知特征，不同认知功能之间的相互关系更多。
