Case-control study, 2019
Does the menstrual cycle affect how women's brains process emotions?
Women's brain activity during emotion processing changes with menstrual cycle phase. In the late-luteal phase, women showed reduced reward processing, less enjoyment, and more sadness compared to the mid-follicular phase and compared to men.
What they did
Researchers performed brain imaging (fMRI) on 20 healthy women without PMS and 20 healthy men. Women were scanned during mid-follicular and late-luteal phases. During scans, participants viewed emotional images and watched funny videos while researchers measured brain activity.
What they found
During negative emotion viewing, men showed increased activity in the right hippocampus compared to women in the mid-follicular phase, and increased activity in the right cerebellum compared to women in the late-luteal phase. During amusement, women in the late-luteal phase showed reduced connections between reward and decision-making brain areas and reported less amusement and more sadness compared to men.
What it means for you
The brain's emotion centers change activity across the menstrual cycle in women. The late-luteal phase (when PMS occurs) shows a biological pattern toward experiencing less pleasure and more sadness. This may explain mood symptoms of PMS and PMDD. This study only included women without PMS, so it shows normal variation rather than what happens in PMS or PMDD itself.
20
women without PMS
20
healthy men
Luteal phase
reduced pleasure and increased sadness
About the study
- Original title
- Sex differences during emotion processing are dependent on the menstrual cycle phase
- Authors
- Dan R, Canetti L, Keadan T et al.
- Journal
- Psychoneuroendocrinology
- Year
- 2019
- Study design
- Case-control study
- What was tested
- None; brain imaging study
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.09.032
Topics
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