Sex and menstrual cycle influences on three aspects of attention

Pletzer, Belinda; Harris, TiAnni; Ortner, Tuulia M.

doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2017.07.012

Cited by 36 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Another study that examined the full life span (ages 17-90) failed to find any gender differences in attention; however, women were found to have slower reaction times [23], consistent with another report using adults that reported slower reaction times in females, but no gender differences in attentional performance [24]. Another study that used responses in an online format of the CPT from a very large number of respondents (n = 9-11,000/gender) also indicated a slower reaction time in women, as well as gender differences, such that females made more omission errors, while males made more commission errors (responding inaccurately to the foil); however, it was noted that the effect size of these differences was quite small [25].…”

Section: Human Gender Differences In Attentionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Let’s call the whole thing off: evaluating gender and sex differences in executive function

Grissom

Reyes

2018

Neuropsychopharmacol

202

144

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The executive functions allow for purposeful, deliberate, and intentional interactions with the world-attention and focus, impulse control, decision making, and working memory. These measures have been correlated with academic outcomes and quality of life, and are impacted by deleterious environmental events throughout the life span, including gestational and early life insults. This review will address the topic of sex differences in executive function including a discussion of differences arising in response to developmental programming. Work on gender differences in human studies and sex differences in animal research will be reviewed. Overall, we find little support for significant gender or sex differences in executive function. An important variable that factors into the interpretation of potential sex differences include differing developmental trajectories. We conclude by discussing future directions for the field and a brief discussion of biological mechanisms.

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Section: Human Gender Differences In Attentionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Let’s call the whole thing off: evaluating gender and sex differences in executive function

Grissom

Reyes

2018

Neuropsychopharmacol

202

144

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…In summary, our results indicate that women and men with ADHD may differ in cognitive capacities, with women being more impaired than men in working memory and impulse control. Whether these effects are comparable to gender differences and hormonal influence in the general public, as shown by other studies [ 30 , 75 ], or whether they are a consequence of the mental disorder itself or a delayed onset of treatment due to mis- or underdiagnosis, remains unclear and must be studied in further detail.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Gender differences in adult ADHD: Cognitive function assessed by the test of attentional performance

et al. 2020

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Introduction The aim of this study was to assess cognitive differences between male and female adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Methods Patients with an ADHD diagnosis according to the DSM-IV guidelines were included in a cross-sectional study evaluating cognitive measures. 28 women and 41 men from ages 19 to 56 completed self-report questionnaires and performed a computer-based test of attentional performance (TAP). The TAP assesses cognitive functions highly affected in ADHD patients, including working memory, alertness and attention as well as behavioral control and response inhibition. Results There were no measurable differences in self-report scales assessing current symptomology between the sexes, however men scored higher on the scale for childhood symptoms. Performance measures for general wakefulness were comparable between men and women, while working memory and behavioral control test results differed. Females reacted significantly slower and more unstable for both the TAP Go/NoGo paradigm and working memory subtest, while also making more errors in the latter. Conclusions We found gender-specific effects regarding working memory and behavioral control in this sample of adult patients with ADHD. Further studies are warranted, examining whether these differences relate to differences in clinical presentation and comorbidity patterns between men and women.

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“…Several limitations of this study should be noted. First, we did not determine the stage of the menstrual cycle, a variable which has been shown to influence attention, reaction time, and spatial processing [43–45]. Second, we employed very basic perceptual stimuli in a match to sample paradigm in order to minimize cognitive load, distraction, and experience related to computer gaming or education.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex related biases for attending to object color versus object position are reflected in reaction time and accuracy

2019

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Processing of visual features related to objects and space relations occurs within separate cortical streams that interact with selective attention. Such separation has implications for cognitive development because the perception of ‘what’ and ‘where’ provide a neural foundation for the development of aspects of higher cognition. Thus, a small attentional bias in early development for attending to one aspect over the other might influence subsequent higher cognitive processing in tasks involving object recognition and space relations. We examined 134 men and women for evidence of an inherent sex-related bias for attending to basic perceptual features related to object discrimination versus object position. Each stimulus consisted of a circle located in one of 9 positions within a surrounding frame. Circles were one of three shades of blue or red. These stimuli were used in a match-to-sample paradigm where participants were required to match circles on the basis of color or spatial position. The first stimulus appeared in the center of the screen for 400 msec and the matching stimulus subsequently appeared for 400 msec oriented 5 degrees to the right or left of center. The same stimuli were used to test the perception of color and position, with order of testing counterbalanced across participants. Results showed significantly longer reaction times in females compared with males, with better accuracy to discriminate color when that color was tested before position. Males showed better accuracy when object position was tested before color discrimination. A second experiment employed the same procedure, but enhanced selective attention by adding an endogenous cue that predicted the right or left location for the appearance of the matching stimulus. This manipulation greatly attenuated the sex differences in reaction time and accuracy compared to Experiment 1, suggesting that the sex-related attentional biases are strongly coupled to bottom-up processing. Overall, the sex related attentional biases toward processing object characteristics versus object position location suggest a differential manifestation of biased competition between the weighted systems of dorsal and ventral stream processing. Results are discussed with how a developmental bias in the processing objects versus space relations may contribute to adult cognitive sex differences in humans and animals.

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Sex and menstrual cycle influences on three aspects of attention

Cited by 36 publications

References 50 publications

Let’s call the whole thing off: evaluating gender and sex differences in executive function

Let’s call the whole thing off: evaluating gender and sex differences in executive function

Gender differences in adult ADHD: Cognitive function assessed by the test of attentional performance

Sex related biases for attending to object color versus object position are reflected in reaction time and accuracy

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