--- title: Does your menstrual cycle change how you recognize emotions on faces? description: Yes. In the late luteal phase before your period, women react more slowly to all emotional faces and show less brain response to happy faces. url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/the-menstrual-cycle-affects-recognition-of-emotional-expressions-an-event-2017/ --- - [Niyora](https://niyora.com/) - [Research](https://niyora.com/research/) - [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/) - Does your menstrual cycle change how you recognize emotions on faces? Survey study, 2017 # Does your menstrual cycle change how you recognize emotions on faces? Yes. In the late luteal phase before your period, women react more slowly to all emotional faces and show less brain response to happy faces. Early or limited evidence 12 women ## What they did 12 women viewed photos of happy and angry faces at two points in their cycle: follicular phase (early) and late luteal phase (before period). Brain activity was measured with electrodes. ## What they found In the follicular phase, women showed a stronger brain response to happy male faces. In the late luteal phase, women took longer to respond to all emotional faces and showed less brain response to happy faces, especially to happy male faces. ## What it means for you Your menstrual cycle affects how your brain processes emotions shown on faces, particularly before your period. This may explain mood and social perception shifts across the cycle. The study was small with only 12 women and had no control group. 12 women studied ## About the study Original title The menstrual cycle affects recognition of emotional expressions: an event-related potential study Authors Yamazaki M, Tamura K Journal F1000Research Year 2017 Study design Survey study Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.11563.1](https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.11563.1) Original abstract Background: Several studies have investigated the relationship between behavioral changes and the menstrual cycle in female subjects at a reproductive age. The present study investigated the relationship between the menstrual cycle and emotional face recognition by measuring the N170 component of ERPs. Methods: We measured N170 of twelve women in both follicular phase and late luteal phase who were presented with human facial expressions as stimuli (happy and angry). Results: In the follicular phase, participants showed a significantly larger response to happy male facial expressions. In the late luteal phase, participants had longer reaction times to all emotional stimuli, and a significantly reduced response to happy faces, especially happy male facial expressions (P<0.001). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the menstrual cycle modulates early visual cognitive processing, and highlight the importance of considering the menstrual cycle phase in studies that investigate emotion and cognition. Reproduced under CC-BY. ## Topics [Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Menstrual cycle and mood](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-cycle-mood/)[Cognition, concentration and memory](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-cognition/)[Relationships and partners](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-relationships/) 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 Survey study, 1989 Does PMS get worse with higher hormone levels? Cohort study, 2026 Does brain structure differ between women with PMDD and healthy controls? Cohort study, 2025 Does worse PMS pain and concentration problems affect a woman's balance during her cycle? Survey study, 2025 Can a plant-based supplement reduce PMS symptoms? Non-randomised trial, 2024 Does cognitive-behavioral or mindfulness stress management help reduce PMS in high school girls? Survey study, 2023 How common are PMS and PMDD among college girls, and what are their symptoms? Ask AI about this page Copy prompt ChatGPT ↗ Claude ↗ Perplexity ↗ Google AI Mode ↗ Grok ↗