Recounting the Past: Gender Differences in the Recall of Events in the History of a Close Relationship

Francis Galton is generally recognized as one of the great, albeit misguided, geniuses of the last century (misguided because he expressed an enthusiasm for eugenics that offends our modern sensibilities). He is also known for his out-standing memory. Galton was a child prodigy who memorized, at an early age, a great deal of Scott, Milton, and of the Iliad and the Odyssey. In this context, it is interesting to note that he begins his memoirs by bemoaning the death of his latest surviving sisters (Galton, 1908/1974). According to Galton, the “minds [of these sisters] were sure storehouses of family events” (p. 1). He observes that he depended on his sisters when he wanted a “date or particulars of a long-past fact” (p. 1).