Girls don't forget a face

Can you remember what your partner was wearing when he or she left the house this morning? If you are female, the chances are you can, researchers claimed today.

A study of 200 students found women were far more adept at recalling faces and even clothing - which may explain why men are notoriously bad at noticing when their partner has her hair cut.

"Women have an advantage when it comes to remembering things like the physical features, clothing and postures of other people," said Dr Terrence Horgan of Ohio State University, who carried out the study. "This advantage might be due to women being slightly more people-oriented than men are. These results go along with studies that show women are better than men in other areas having to do with interpersonal sensitivity."

He believes that by remembering a person's appearance women can interact with them better. "We use appearance cues to categorise individuals, to help us understand them," he said. But Dr Martin Skinner, a psychologist at Warwick University, believes the results could be due to motivation. "Maybe women just care more, and therefore want to remember that kind of information," he said.

In the study, students were paired up, then asked to remember details of their partner's appearance. In every test women scored higher than men.

The study also showed both sexes were better at remembering women than men. Researchers put this down to the fact that often women dress more flamboyantly, while men wear near-identical suits.