---
title: Does being in heat change how female rats remember what they learned?
description: No. Female rats in heat did not show state-dependent memory, unlike male rats given a drug or stressed rats.
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/persistence-of-flavor-neophobia-as-an-indicator-of-state-dependent-retention-1983/
---

- [Niyora](https://niyora.com/)
- [Research](https://niyora.com/research/)
- [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/)
- Does being in heat change how female rats remember what they learned?

Lab study, 1983

# Does being in heat change how female rats remember what they learned?

No. Female rats in heat did not show state-dependent memory, unlike male rats given a drug or stressed rats.

 Early or limited evidence

Male and female rats

## What they did

Researchers tested whether memory formation changed depending on a rat's body state. They used a flavor avoidance test to measure memory in male rats given pentobarbital, stressed rats, and ovariectomized female rats brought into heat with estrogen and progesterone injections.

## What they found

Male rats given pentobarbital showed state-dependent memory. Stressed rats also showed it. But female rats in heat did not show state-dependent memory - they remembered their learning regardless of the body state they were in.

## What it means for you

Heat (estrus) in rats did not work the way researchers expected for memory formation. Rats' heat cycle is very different from the human menstrual cycle, so this finding may not tell us much about how periods affect women's memory.

10 mg/kg

pentobarbital dose

## About the study

Original title Persistence of flavor neophobia as an indicator of state-dependent retention induced by pentobarbital, stress, and estrus Authors Morilak DA, Orndoff RK, Riccio DC et al. Journal Behavioral and neural biology Year 1983 Study design Lab study What was tested Pentobarbital (10 mg/kg), stress, and estrogen and progesterone injections Read the paper [doi.org/10.1016/s0163-1047(83)90369-2](https://doi.org/10.1016/s0163-1047(83)90369-2)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Stress](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-stress/)[Anxiety disorders and OCD](https://niyora.com/research/topics/comorbidity-anxiety-disorders/)[Schizophrenia and psychosis](https://niyora.com/research/topics/comorbidity-psychosis/)

Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits.

Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor.

## Related studies

Review, 2024

What is premenstrual exacerbation and how does it affect different psychiatric illnesses?

Systematic review, 2022

Do mental health disorders get worse during the menstrual cycle?

Study, 2026

Do anxiety and depression get worse before your period if you already have a mental health condition?

Survey study, 2025

Do women with PMS have higher anxiety, stress, and different personality traits?

Lab study, 2020

Does anxiety sensitivity change during different parts of the menstrual cycle?

Randomised trial, 2020

Does an oxaloacetate and vitamin C combination reduce emotional symptoms of PMS?

Ask AI about this page

Copy prompt

ChatGPT

↗

Claude

↗

Perplexity

↗

Google AI Mode

↗

Grok

↗