Survey study, 2020
Does the brain's reward processing work differently in women with PMS?
Women with PMS showed weaker activity in brain areas that process rewards (the caudate and orbitofrontal cortex) when they experienced gains compared to losses. This suggests their brains may process positive emotions differently, though this small study cannot prove this causes PMS.
What they did
Cross-sectional study. Researchers scanned 17 women with PMS and 17 healthy women during a card guessing task in the late luteal phase using functional brain imaging. They analyzed activity in reward-related brain areas and looked for connections between different brain regions.
What they found
Healthy women showed stronger activation in the bilateral caudate and orbitofrontal cortex when gains were compared to losses. Women with PMS showed no significant difference between gains and losses in these areas. Healthy women also showed stronger activation in the right middle frontal gyrus for gains versus losses, but women with PMS did not. Women with PMS had lower functional connectivity between the right caudate and right cerebellum.
What it means for you
The study provides some of the first evidence that PMS may involve changes in how the brain processes rewards and positive emotions, which could explain weakened positive feelings in PMS. The main limits are the very small sample size and that this is a snapshot observation, so we cannot say whether these brain differences cause PMS or result from it.
17
women with PMS scanned
17
healthy women scanned
About the study
- Original title
- Neural evidence of dysfunction of reward processing in women with premenstrual syndrome
- Authors
- Hou L, Han ZR, Meng Y et al.
- Journal
- Neuropsychologia
- Year
- 2020
- Study design
- Survey study
- What was tested
- Card guessing task during functional brain imaging
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107669
Topics
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