---
title: Do women with PMS recognize facial emotions differently depending on their menstrual cycle?
description: Women with PMS struggle more to recognize sad and surprised faces during the luteal phase. However, women without PMS also had trouble recognizing sad faces t
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/the-comparison-of-facial-emotion-recognition-ability-in-women-with-and-without-2017/
---

- [Niyora](https://niyora.com/)
- [Research](https://niyora.com/research/)
- [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/)
- Do women with PMS recognize facial emotions differently depending on their menstrual cycle?

Case-control study, 2017

# Do women with PMS recognize facial emotions differently depending on their menstrual cycle?

Women with PMS struggle more to recognize sad and surprised faces during the luteal phase. However, women without PMS also had trouble recognizing sad faces then, so this pattern is not unique to PMS.

 Early or limited evidence

60 women in Turkey (33 with PMS, 27 without PMS)

## What they did

60 women (33 with PMS and 27 without PMS) were shown 56 photographs of faces with different emotional expressions during two phases of their menstrual cycle: the luteal phase and the follicular phase.

## What they found

Women with PMS recognized sad faces worse in the luteal phase than the follicular phase (p=0.003). They also recognized surprised faces worse in the luteal phase (p=0.019). Women without PMS recognized sad faces worse in the luteal phase (p=0.008). There were no significant differences between the two groups overall.

## What it means for you

The luteal phase makes it harder for women with PMS to recognize certain emotions, which could affect their social interactions. However, this also happens to women without PMS for sad faces, so it's not unique to PMS. The study was small.

33

Women with PMS

p=0.003

Significance for sad face recognition

p=0.019

Significance for surprised faces

## About the study

Original title The Comparison of Facial Emotion Recognition Ability in Women with and without Premenstrual Syndrome Authors Gültekin G, Uludağ C, Çetinkaya S et al. Journal Turk psikiyatri dergisi = Turkish journal of psychiatry Year 2017 Study design Case-control study Participants 33 What was tested Facial emotion recognition test with 56 photographs Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.5080/u20494](https://doi.org/10.5080/u20494)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Menstrual cycle and mood](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-cycle-mood/)[Irritability and anger](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-irritability-anger/)[Cognition, concentration and memory](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-cognition/)

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

Randomised trial, 2025

Does escitalopram improve attention and reduce impulsivity in women with premenstrual irritability and anger?

Cohort study, 2022

What are PMS and PMDD and how should they be diagnosed and treated?

Survey study, 2017

Does painful menstruation affect adolescent girls' mood, emotions, sleep, and thinking?

Case-control study, 2012

Do women with PMDD have working memory problems linked to concentration and irritability?

Case-control study, 2003

Do IBS symptoms change across the menstrual cycle and vary by contraceptive use?

Randomised trial, 1995

Does a special carbohydrate drink help mood and thinking problems in PMS?

Ask AI about this page

Copy prompt

ChatGPT

↗

Claude

↗

Perplexity

↗

Google AI Mode

↗

Grok

↗