MENSTRUAL CYCLE EFFECTS ON SELECTIVE ATTENTION AND ITS UNDERLYING CORTICAL NETWORKS

作者：Thimm M^*; Weis S; Hausmann M; Sturm W

来源：Neuroscience, 2014, 258: 307-317.

DOI：10.1016/j.neuroscience.2013.11.010

• fMRI
• selective attention
• go/no-go
• menstrual cycle
• steroid hormones
• functional cerebral asymmetry

It was the aim of the present study to investigate menstrual cycle effects on selective attention and its underlying functional cerebral networks. Twenty-one healthy, right-handed, normally cycling women were investigated by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging using a go/no-go paradigm during the menstrual, follicular and luteal phase. On the behavioral level there was a significant interaction between visual half field and cycle phase with reaction times to right-sided compared to left-sided stimuli being faster in the menstrual compared to the follicular phase. These results might argue for a more pronounced functional cerebral asymmetry toward the left hemisphere in selective attention during the menstrual phase with low estradiol and progesterone levels. Functional imaging, however, did not reveal clear-cut menstrual phase-related changes in activation pattern in parallel to these behavioral findings. A functional connectivity analysis identified differences between the menstrual and the luteal phase: During the menstrual phase, left inferior parietal cortex showed a stronger negative correlation with the right middle frontal gyrus while the left medial frontal cortex showed a stronger negative correlation with the left middle frontal gyrus. These results can serve as further evidence of a modulatory effect of steroid hormones on networks of lateralized cognitive functions not only by interhemispheric inhibition but also by affecting intrahemispheric functional connectivity.

• 出版日期2014-1-31