Lab study, 2013
Does the menstrual cycle affect how well women remember emotional stories?
Women in the high-hormone luteal phase remember more extra details from emotional stories, while women in the low-hormone follicular phase show no difference between emotional and neutral stories. Men remember the main plot better from emotional stories.
What they did
Healthy women and men watched a brief emotional or neutral story with three phases. One week later, they recalled what they remembered. Women were divided into two groups based on their menstrual cycle phase when they watched the story - low-hormone follicular or high-hormone luteal.
What they found
Women in the luteal phase remembered more extra details from emotional stories compared to neutral stories. Women in the follicular phase showed no difference between emotional and neutral stories. Men remembered the main plot better from emotional stories but not extra details. Attention and arousal were similar across all groups.
What it means for you
Hormones during the menstrual cycle may affect what women remember from emotional events. This is about memory in healthy women, not specifically about PMS or mood problems. The researchers measured whether differences came from paying more attention or being more aroused, and found that did not explain it. The main limitation is we don't know why this happens.
1
week delay before memory test
3
phases in the emotional story
About the study
- Original title
- Sex and menstrual cycle phase at encoding influence emotional memory for gist and detail
- Authors
- Nielsen SE, Ahmed I, Cahill L
- Journal
- Neurobiology of learning and memory
- Year
- 2013
- Study design
- Lab study
- What was tested
- None
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2013.07.015
Topics
Related studies
Systematic review, 2026
Do brain wave patterns change across the menstrual cycle?
Systematic review, 2026
Can digital tools help diagnose PMDD?
Systematic review, 2025
How do cognition and behavior change across the menstrual cycle in people with PMDD?
Systematic review, 2025
Does how well women think change throughout their menstrual cycle?
Randomised trial, 2025
Does the menstrual cycle phase affect how much alcohol impairs women's memory?
Randomised trial, 2024
Does estradiol prevent thinking problems before the period in women with suicidal thoughts?