Absent-mindedness is a middle-aged male problem, research shows

It's been an endless source of aggravation between the sexes; how can men so easily forget birthdays, anniversaries, and even friends' names?

Not, it seems, because they cannot be bothered to remember. Research suggests that, in middle age at least, absent-minded-ness is a particularly male problem.

At the age of 50, women's verbal memory outperforms their male counterparts by a significant margin, a report by the Institute of Education, University of London suggests.

A survey of more than 9,600 middle-aged British men and women showed that women outscored men in two listening and recollection tests.

"Men performed significantly more poorly in the verbal memory tests: particularly on the delayed memory test," the authors, Matthew Brown and Brian Dodgeon, said.

"This was quite a surprising result, since women turning 50 tend to do worse: another study has shown that during the menopause women do not do so well."

Participants in the first test listened to 10 common words being read out and were then given two minutes to recall as many as possible. The second test required them to list the same 10 words about five minutes later. Women scored almost 5% more than men, on average, in the first test, and nearly 8% more in the second.

Women were less accurate in a third test requiring them to cross out as many "Ps" and "Ws" as possible in a page filled with rows of random letters. They had, however, scanned letters faster than men.

In a fourth test, naming as many animals as they could in a minute, men and women had identical scores. Each could name 22 animals, on average. The study did not test whether men are better than women at recalling numbers; previous studies have shown that women tend to do better on word recognition tests.

Those tested were members of the National Child Development Study who have been tracked since their birth in 1958. They were tested at age 16, and the latest tests will help estimate the impact that exercise, diet, smoking, alcohol and depression have had on mental abilities. Initial analysis shows those who exercised at least once a month did better on all tests, on average, than those who did not. Non-smokers, including ex-smokers, also outscored smokers in the first of the "word recall" tests, even after social background was taken into consideration.

"Although measuring gender differences was not the central purpose of tests, the differences between men and women were interesting," the authors said.

Absentmindedness

Absentmindedness

And now for a break from SODA updates.

They say that professors are absentminded. I say that my mind is not absent: it's very very present - just somewhere else.

On that note, here are some levels of absentmindedness. I will refrain from any comment on how I came up with this list.

• Forgetting your keys are in your pocket
• Putting down your coffee while looking for keys and forgetting where you left it.
• Forgetting your glasses are on your head
• Forgetting that you're wearing your glasses
• Looking for your phone while holding it
• Missing your bus stop because you're day dreaming
• Missing your bus because you're day dreaming at the bus stop
• Taking your bus because you forgot you had the car that day
• Having to be reminded by your spouse not to take the bus because you took the car that day

I used to remember #1, but I've forgotten it.

Absentmindedness – Sir Isaac Newton

Absentmindedness – Sir Isaac Newton

Arrived one day, the English world of Sir Isaac Newton's Friend (1642-1727) in time for dinner. Has been called for in the previous day by Newton himself. The scientists were engrossed in his work, so I sat down and - Wait.

Of course, Newton did not pay attention to his friend.

With the passage of time.

Finally, I addressed a server dinner on a tray, only to Newton as the host country not already, and it would be the presence of guests. Once again, Newton did not pay any attention to what is happening around him.

Mad, and sat silent and deserted, Newton took the guests for dinner and eat ...

Soon after the completion of Newton what he was doing. He looked with surprise, his friend, who said he did not notice even, and empty box and then:

- If you are not, as witnessed by me, and I can swear that I will not eat my dinner! -

Absentminded and Absent of Mind.

Absentminded and Absent of Mind.

It's harder to write when you're happy. I got into graduate school - into a program I've been craving - and so I am reluctantly stable and happy. It is far more interesting to be tilted and dangerous.

Today at my internship I find myself remembering Saligumba; one of my first students. It took me a semester to figure out that his name was not Sally Gumba, but Something Forgettable Saligumba. He was short and raw-looking - were he not so scrawny and young, he would probably have been a little bit scary.

All the volunteers at my training site would remember him for one simple reason: Sali was the first student who showed up at school openly drunk. Every day. This school was such a shoddy establishment that it really didn't matter. He offered us alcohol, wandered in and out of classes and regularly hit on the female PCVs. The lack of authority or adult-response in general made us wonder, "Are we ever going to figure this culture out?" - because if that kind of behavior didn't instigate a response beyond a shoulder shrug, what possibly could?

That was such an impossibly long time ago. Sali provided us with months of humor, and even at the end of our service we would fondly reminisce over his antics. Nevermind that his behavior echoed blindingly in the students at our actual sites and in surrounding barangays for the remainder of service: Sali was our first and favorite because, we figured, since we couldn't do anything about him, we may as well enjoy his ridiculousness.

The Philippines was a constant headache, but it always plucked at my thought-strings and made me think, think, think, ponder, think. Think until I thought myself a little bit crazy.

I have a friend here who says I am not quite as serious a person as I like to think.

I forgot how beautiful DC is in the springtime. It is clean, trimmed, immaculate, sunny and colorful. People look so tidy, so well kept and so... matching. I sat down on a crowded bus next to an older, gray-haired woman wearing neon green lipstick. She had her stringy locks braided into pigtails tied with a bow, and her red shoes glittered with Dorothy-envy. She was swinging her feet and humming self-consciously, and I would have been too. On a nearly full-to-capacity bus, every pair of eyes stuck to her outfit. The entire vicinity was absent-mindedly thumbing through her possible mental imbalances. She was just one person, but she was the one person who didn't fit the bill of health. She stuck out.

Try a caravan full of ragtag warriors pummeling its way through unpaved island roads and knocking meandering canines into their next life without hesitation.

Even the definition of a crowded bus has altered in my mind. Crowded means most seats are taken; not that piles of roosters are skittering in feathery cages across the aisles and a family of five has folded itself into a double knot to fit into a double seat.

Maybe here, in the U.S., there is just a lot less for me to be serious about.