Survey study, 2013
Does how well you recognize emotions change depending on where you are in your menstrual cycle?
Yes, slightly. Women in the follicular phase recognized emotions more accurately. Women in the luteal phase reacted faster to sad and angry emotions, linked to progesterone levels.
What they did
40 healthy women were tested at two points in their cycle: the follicular phase and the luteal phase. They did three tasks measuring empathy: recognizing emotions in faces, understanding others' perspectives, and reaction speed to emotions.
What they found
Women in the follicular phase recognized emotions in faces more accurately. Women in the luteal phase reacted faster to sad and angry faces. Progesterone levels correlated with both emotion recognition and reaction speed in the luteal phase. Understanding others' perspectives did not change by cycle phase.
What it means for you
Your cycle phase affects how quickly and accurately you respond emotionally to others, particularly recognizing and reacting to sad or angry emotions. This seems driven by progesterone. Limitation: small sample, only two cycle phases tested, lab-based measurements.
40
Women tested
20
In follicular phase
20
In luteal phase
About the study
- Original title
- Association of menstrual cycle phase with the core components of empathy
- Authors
- Derntl B, Hack RL, Kryspin-Exner I et al.
- Journal
- Hormones and behavior
- Year
- 2013
- Study design
- Survey study
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2012.10.009
Topics
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