Journal
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Volume 93, Issue 1, Pages 17-23Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2013.02.001
Keywords
Oral contraceptive pill (OC); PPI; RBANS; Menstrual cycle; Gender differences; Female; Male; Estrogen; Progesterone; Cognition
Funding
- J. & P. Clemenger Trust
- National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia [435690]
- Victorian State Government
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Little is known about the effects of the commonly-used oral contraceptive pill (OC) on cognition. This study compared matched healthy women across the menstrual cycle (early-follicular 'Low E/P', mid-luteal 'High E/P'), women using the combined OC, and men. The Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) was used to assess immediate and delayed memory, visuospatial ability, language and attention. Assessment of prepulse inhibition (PPI) included 21 pulse-alone trials (115 dB) and 42 prepulse-pulse trials (74, 78, 86 dB). The CC and High E/P groups outperformed men on the total RBANS score, an overall measure of cognition. For the immediate memory/learning and attention domains, the CC group outperformed men; for the delayed memory domain, the OC and High E/P groups outperformed men. In conclusion, high levels of natural or synthetic sex hormones had a positive effect on higher-order cognition but had little effect on baseline PPI. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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