The methods of simultaneous and memory color matching have been studied for a set of five Munsell color samples by 50 children, 25 boys and 25 girls (ranging in age from? 9 to 11 years). By comparison between this group and one of 50 young adult observers, we can deduce the following: (a) In children, as in young adults, the mean CIELAB total color difference, Delta E-ab*, in simultaneous color matching is lower than the Delta E-ab* by memory color matching. (b) Children matched reference test worse than young adults for orange, bluish green (only boys and men) and yellow green (only girls and women). (c) While men remember, independently of age and delay time, violet reference test worse than women (P = 0.02), boys remember, independently of delay time, reference test worse than girls for orange (P = 0.026) and pink (P = 0.049). (d) In short-term memory, boys remember the reference test better than girls for bluish green (P = 0.022): girls remember yellow green reference test worse than women (P = 0.034). (e) Chroma is the perceptual color attribute that best explains sex differences, although that depends upon the reference color test considered. (C) 2008 Wiley Periodicals. Inc.