Journal
PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINOLOGY
Volume 140, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2022.105722
Keywords
Vigilance tasks; Menstrual cycle; Mid-luteal phase; Circadian rhythms; Chronotype
Categories
Funding
- MCIN/AEI [PSI2017-84556-P]
- ERDF A way of making Europe
- [FPU17/00427]
- [FPU18/00288]
- [FPU19/06017]
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This study assessed the effects of progesterone on vigilance tasks and differentiated between exogenous and endogenous components. The results showed that Morning-type females performed better during the mid-luteal phase, while Evening-type females performed worse.
Background: In this study we assessed the effects of progesterone on vigilance tasks that require sustained attention. In contrast to previous research, we differentiated two components of vigilance: the exogenous component, involved in monotonous and tedious tasks such as the Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT); and the endogenous component, involved in tasks that require cognitive control such as the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART). Methods: A sample of 32 female participants differing in extreme chronotypes were tested at their optimal and non-optimal time-of-day, as secretion of sex hormones follows biological rhythms. Ovulation tests that measure the presence of luteinizing hormone (LH) in urine were used to minimize methodological errors. Women of Morning-type or Evening-type chronotypes completed 4 experimental sessions of the two attentional tasks when they were in their follicular (low progesterone level) and mid-luteal (high progesterone level) phases, both in the morning (8:00 AM) and the evening (8:30 PM). Results: Compared with the follicular phase, performance in the mid-luteal phase improved in the Morning-type participants and worsened in the Evening-type participants. This pattern of results was observed only when testing occurred at the optimal time-of-day and with both the PVT and the SART tasks. Conclusion: These results suggest that the simultaneous presence of both progesterone and cortisol at 8:00 AM may explain the benefit observed in Morning-type females. In contrast, the low concentration of cortisol along with the reduced benefit of mid-luteal phase progesterone in the evening may account for the worsening in performance observed in Evening-type females.
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