Study, 2012

How do thinking abilities change during the menstrual cycle?

Women performed best on mental rotation tasks during menstrual and early follicular phases (low hormone times), best on word fluency during menstrual and mid-luteal phases. Anxiety and masculine/feminine feelings stayed the same.

Early or limited evidence 17 women with regular menstrual cycles

What they did

17 women with regular menstrual cycles completed cognitive tests at four different cycle phases: menstrual, early follicular, pre-ovulation, and mid-luteal. Tests measured how well they could mentally rotate three-dimensional objects and how many words they could generate quickly. They also answered questionnaires about personality traits, anxiety, and how masculine or feminine they felt.

What they found

Women performed best on mental rotation tasks during menstrual and early follicular phases when sex hormone levels were low. During these phases they also showed more masculine traits. Best word fluency performance occurred during menstrual and mid-luteal phases. Anxiety levels and femininity scores did not change across the cycle.

What it means for you

Sex hormones appear to influence how well the brain performs on different types of mental tasks. When hormone levels drop, women performed better on tasks where men typically do better. This study was small with only 17 women and tested only two specific cognitive tasks, so these results may not apply to all types of thinking or all women.

Women studied

Menstrual cycle phases tested

About the study

Original title: Verbal and spatial functions during different phases of the menstrual cycle
Authors: Simić N, Santini M
Journal: Psychiatria Danubina
Year: 2012
Study design: Study
What was tested: None
Open access: Yes
Read the paper: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22447089/

Topics

Menstrual cycle and mood Anxiety and tension Cognition, concentration and memory

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