Neurophysiological Correlates of Affective State Across the Menstrual Cycle (2023)
Undergraduate: Shruti Temkar
Faculty Advisor: Elizabeth Andersen
Department: Psychiatry, School of Medicine
The pubertal transition is a unique developmental window characterized by intense hormonal fluctuations, refinement of frontal neural networks, and substantially increased risk of depression in females. Evidence suggests that estrogen flux, characteristic of the premenstrual phase, is associated with mood dysregulation. However, no investigations have explored how the brain’s electrical activity patterns impact emotional processing in the context of reproductive hormone fluctuation. The purpose of this research was to determine the relationship between mood dysregulation and electrophysiological markers of emotional processing, and whether this relationship is stronger during the premenstrual phase of the menstrual cycle. 22 participants, ages 11-14, each attended two electroencephalography test sessions (late follicular phase and premenstrual phase). They completed implicit viewing tasks and mood questionnaires. Self-report measures revealed that greater negative affect occurs during the premenstrual phase t (21) = -9.338, p < .001, while greater positive affect occurs in the follicular phase t (21) = 4.305, p < .001. Beta event-related desynchronization (ERD) in response to fear stimuli was greater during the luteal phase (F(1,21)=8.416, p=.009, np2=.286). There was not a main effect of valence (calm vs fear), but the phase by valence interaction was marginally significant (F(1,21)=4.073, p=0.057, np2=.162, indicating that beta ERD was reduced for calm stimuli during the luteal phase. This may indicate limbic/amygdala hyperreactivity to fearful stimuli in the premenstrual phase. Ultimately, we prove that affective state and emotional processing changes across the menstrual cycle. The premenstrual phase is associated with heightened threat reactivity, which causes increased negative affect.
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