Effects of sex on object recognition and spatial navigation in humans

Human tests designed to mirror rodent tests of object recognition and spatial navigation were administered to adult cognitively healthy humans. Facial recognition was also assessed. There was no sex difference in facial recognition, consistent with earlier studies. In the object recognition test, the test–retest NINL total scores during the same visit were highly correlated, comparable to the test–retest correlations obtained in the established facial recognition test. There were no effects of sex on object recognition. However, in the spatial navigation test, there were effects of sex on spatial learning and memory during the session with the hidden, but not visible, target. These tests might be useful to compare assessments of object recognition and spatial learning and memory in humans and animal models.