---
title: Does how the brain processes words change across the menstrual cycle?
description: The pattern of how the brain is organized for word problems stayed the same across the cycle. However, performance actually improved during the high-hormone p
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/dual-task-paradigm-reveals-variation-in-left-hemisphere-involvement-in-verbal-2020/
---

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- Does how the brain processes words change across the menstrual cycle?

Study, 2020

# Does how the brain processes words change across the menstrual cycle?

The pattern of how the brain is organized for word problems stayed the same across the cycle. However, performance actually improved during the high-hormone phase of the cycle.

 Moderate study design

30 right-handed women aged 18 to 21

## What they did

30 right-handed young women were tested during their period (low hormones) and during their midluteal phase (high hormones). They did finger-tapping exercises while silently solving word puzzles or saying the answers aloud to measure how their brains managed both tasks at once.

## What they found

The same side of the brain (left hemisphere) was used for silent word problems and both sides were used for spoken problems, at both times in the cycle. However, when women solved silent word problems while tapping with their right hand during the high-hormone phase, they performed significantly better than during their period.

## What it means for you

Higher hormone levels during the cycle may improve how well your brain works on word problems, even though the pattern of which side of the brain is used stays the same. This is a small study that only tested two points in the cycle, so we don't know if this happens throughout the cycle or matters in everyday life.

30

women tested

2

menstrual cycle phases tested

18-21

age range

## About the study

Original title Dual-Task Paradigm Reveals Variation in Left Hemisphere Involvement in Verbal Processing Across the Menstrual Cycle in Normally Cycling Women Authors Wong-Goodrich SJE, DeRosa HJ, Kee DW Journal Psychological reports Year 2020 Study design Study What was tested None Read the paper [doi.org/10.1177/0033294119862992](https://doi.org/10.1177/0033294119862992)

## Topics

[Cognition, concentration and memory](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-cognition/)

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