--- title: Do women with moderate-to-severe PMS process rewards differently? description: Yes. In the luteal phase (before menstruation), women with moderate-to-severe PMS responded less to rewards than women without PMS. There was no difference in url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/reduced-reward-responsiveness-in-women-with-moderate-to-severe-premenstrual-2020/ --- - [Niyora](https://niyora.com/) - [Research](https://niyora.com/research/) - [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/) - Do women with moderate-to-severe PMS process rewards differently? Case-control study, 2020 # Do women with moderate-to-severe PMS process rewards differently? Yes. In the luteal phase (before menstruation), women with moderate-to-severe PMS responded less to rewards than women without PMS. There was no difference in the follicular phase (after menstruation). Early or limited evidence 30 women with moderate-to-severe PMS and 31 women without PMS ## What they did Case-control study where 30 women with moderate-to-severe PMS and 31 women without PMS completed a reward task at two different cycle phases: the luteal phase and the follicular phase. ## What they found In the late luteal phase, women with PMS had lower response rates and lower accuracy when responding to frequently rewarded stimuli compared to controls. These differences disappeared in the follicular phase. The differences remained even when researchers controlled for anhedonia (inability to feel pleasure). ## What it means for you Women with moderate-to-severe PMS may have differences in how their brains respond to rewards, especially before menstruation. This is preliminary evidence from a relatively small study. 30 women with moderate-to-severe PMS 31 control women without PMS ## About the study Original title Reduced Reward Responsiveness in Women With Moderate - to - Severe Premenstrual Syndrome: Evidence From a Probabilistic Reward Task Authors Hou L, Chang L, Chen L et al. Journal Frontiers in psychiatry Year 2020 Study design Case-control study Participants 30 What was tested Probabilistic reward task (a test that assesses how people respond to rewards) Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00028](https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00028) Original abstract Nearly 50% of women of reproductive age worldwide experience premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Women with PMS exhibit low positive affect and low frontal electroencephalography asymmetry scores, both of which are associated with reward processing. These findings suggest that women with PMS may exhibit deficiencies in reward processing. A probabilistic reward task based on signal detection approach was used to assess reward responsiveness in 30 women with moderate-to-severe PMS and 31 controls without PMS. The results revealed that in the late luteal phase, the women with moderate-to-severe PMS exhibited lower response bias and lower hit rate toward more frequently rewarded stimuli (rich stimuli) than the controls. By contrast, the response bias and hit rate did not differ between the two groups in the follicular phase. The group differences still remained after controlling for anhedonic symptoms. Furthermore, trial-by-trial probability analyses revealed that women with moderate-to-severe PMS exhibited a trend of having a higher miss rate for rich stimuli than the controls. In particular, when a rich stimulus was preceded by an infrequently rewarded stimulus (a rewarded lean stimulus), participants in the PMS group exhibited a trend for higher miss rate than those in the control group in the late luteal and follicular phases. However, group differences in the probability analyses were nonsignificant after controlling for anhedonic symptoms. These results provide preliminary evidence that women with moderate-to-severe PMS exhibit dysfunctional reward responsiveness and impaired ability to modulate their behavior as a function of prior reinforcement. Reproduced under CC-BY. ## Topics [Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Low mood and depression](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-depression-mood/) 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 Cohort study, 2026 What genetic factors are linked to premenstrual symptoms? Systematic review, 2026 How often do mood disorders and PMS or PMDD occur together? Randomised trial, 2026 Does Kundalini Reiki help reduce PMS symptoms and improve quality of life? Cohort study, 2026 Does having PMS before pregnancy increase the risk of postpartum depression? Systematic review, 2026 Does vitamin D supplementation help PMS symptoms? Study, 2026 How do women with PMDD process emotions differently in their brains? Ask AI about this page Copy prompt ChatGPT ↗ Claude ↗ Perplexity ↗ Google AI Mode ↗ Grok ↗