Cognitive Performance and the Menstrual Cycle

Sommer, Bárbara

doi:10.1007/978-1-4613-9148-7_2

Cited by 34 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 67 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Lack of consensus may be attributable to a number of factors which have not been adequately controlled for, including mood, which is also known to fluctuate during the cycle, thus constituting a potential confounder. There is also inconsistency in definitions of menstrual cycle phase and many women (especially younger women) have an anovulatory cycle with a hormone profile which is different from the ovulatory cycle [47].…”

Section: Puberty and Adult Development And Observed Sex Differences Imentioning

confidence: 99%

Lifelong Endocrine Fluctuations and Related Cognitive Disorders

Ancelin¹,

Ritchie

2005

CPD

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Puberty and Adult Development And Observed Sex Differences Imentioning

confidence: 99%

Lifelong Endocrine Fluctuations and Related Cognitive Disorders

Ancelin¹,

Ritchie

2005

CPD

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Up to 1990, this has been effectively reviewed by Sommer (1992) and her conclusions will be briefly summarized. Up to 1990, this has been effectively reviewed by Sommer (1992) and her conclusions will be briefly summarized.…”

Section: B Cognitive Functionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The premenstrual syndrome – a reappraisal of the concept and the evidence

Bancroft¹

1993

Psychol. Med. Monogr. Suppl.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Request Permissions : Click here Downloaded from http://journals.cambridge.org/PMS, IP address: 216.165.126.139 on 12 Apr 2015 SYNOPSIS The Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) remains a controversial issue. As a clinical concept it is surrounded by confusion. Attempts to establish a consensus definition have resulted in the majority of women seeking help for such problems excluded from the diagnosis. Furthermore, there is no consensus about how such problems should be treated, with a variety of methods being advocated usually on very uncertain scientific grounds. The issue also has its political implications; there are those who see PMS as a way of reducing the status of women, by linking the normal ovarian cycle to a phenomenon which, on the face of it, impairs women's ability to cope. Yet there are a substantial number of women who experience significant negative changes which vary with the menstrual cycle, and produce long-term effects on their well being and family relationship which can be serious. There is also a real possibility that recurrent perimenstrual mood changes of this kind may increase the likelihood of chronic depressive illness in susceptible individuals. In most respects the features of depression which occurs perimenstrually are essentially similar to those of major depressive disorder, except for the short duration and recurrent pattern.PMS, therefore, remains an issue not only of clinical importance, but of considerable potential relevance to our understanding of major depressive disorder, which is substantially more common in women of reproductive age than in their male counterparts.In this review the concept of PMS, and some prominent operational definitions of it, are critically evaluated; it is now questionable whether the concept, as currently applied, still carries any heuristic or clinical value. Some current theoretical and aetiological issues are considered: e.g. the role of the corpus luteum, the effects of hormonal regimes which block ovulation, such as oral contraceptives, and the possibility that cyclical mood change represents an entrained rhythm in the brain.The conclusions reached at this stage in the review lead to a ' paradigm shift' with the proposal of a three-factor model to account for the complexities of menstrual cycle-related problems. These three factors are (a) the 'timing factor', imposed by the ovarian hormonal cycle, and possibly accounting for cyclical changes in CNS neurotransmitter activity; (b) a 'menstruation factor', including the processes involved in the build up as well as shedding of the endometrium and the ways in which these processes might adversely affect the women's well being both premenstrually as well as during menstruation; and (c) the 'vulnerability factor', covering a variety of characteristics, constitutional as well as situational, psychosocial as well as biological, which are not in themselves functions of the menstrual cycle but which serve to determine how vulnerable a woman will be to the first two factors.The relevant evidence in the litera...

show abstract

“…There are reports of subtle differences in some cognitive test across the menstrual cycle which could be attributable to ovarian hormones (Montgomery, 1979;Phillips and Sherwin, 1992;Maki et al, 2002), but this is not a consistent finding (Pierson and Lockhart, 1963;Slade and Jenner, 1980;Broverman et al, 1981a;Sommer, 1992;Epting and Overman, 1998;Halari et al, 2005). Many years ago, sex differences in the acquisition of a classically conditioned eyeblink response, a form of implicit learning, were reported by Spence (Spence and Spence, 1966), but differences in acquisition of this type of conditioned response were not examined across the menstrual cycle.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Facilitated acquisition of the classically conditioned eyeblink response in women taking oral contraceptives

Beck

McLaughlin²,

Bergen³

et al. 2008

Behavioural Pharmacology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although anecdotal reports suggest that associative learning processes are affected by menstrual phase, empirical evidence has been equivocal. Moreover, there is a dearth of research concerning fluctuations of artificial or exogenous female hormones on learning and memory. Therefore, in this preliminary study we assessed learning in women who take oral contraceptives and those who do not during the three phases of the menstrual cycle: early, middle, and later cycle. The behavioral assessment included short-trace eyeblink conditioning, acoustic startle reactivity, and a fine motor coordination task (grooved pegboard). Oral contraceptive users generally acquired the conditioned eyeblink response better than non-users. Similar enhancements were observed for fine motor coordination and startle responsiveness. Further research will need to distinguish whether the hormone influence is upon the associative processes or the sensory-motor pathways involved in nonassociative learning.

show abstract

Cognitive Performance and the Menstrual Cycle

Cited by 34 publications

References 67 publications

Lifelong Endocrine Fluctuations and Related Cognitive Disorders

Lifelong Endocrine Fluctuations and Related Cognitive Disorders

The premenstrual syndrome – a reappraisal of the concept and the evidence

Facilitated acquisition of the classically conditioned eyeblink response in women taking oral contraceptives

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About