The menstrual cycle has been demonstrated to have wide-ranging effects on cognition and emotions. Specific mood syndromes are associated with particular phases of the menstrual cycle, and the...Show moreThe menstrual cycle has been demonstrated to have wide-ranging effects on cognition and emotions. Specific mood syndromes are associated with particular phases of the menstrual cycle, and the prevalence of mood disorders is higher in women. We aimed to investigate, whether the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle has a negative effect on anxiety levels, through temporarily increased attention to negative emotional stimuli, referred to as attentional bias (AB). We collected data on 194 healthy participants using online surveys and an emotional dot-probe task (eDPT), with pictorial stimuli of emotional facial expressions (angry, fearful, happy, and neutral). We aimed to investigate whether different groups of participants (follicular phase women (N = 30), luteal phase women (N = 24), oral contraceptive using women (N = 75), and men (N = 65)) would exhibit ABs in the eDPT. We hypothesized that luteal phase women would show larger AB for emotional stimuli, and, specifically, angry and fearful stimuli. Further, we expected that differences in state anxiety levels between the groups would account for differences in AB. Our results did not support our hypotheses. We found a significant AB for emotional faces over neutral faces, and different average response times depending on the specific emotion in a given trial. However, the magnitude of these effects was the same for follicular phase women, luteal phase women, OC users, and men. Further, these results were unaffected by state anxiety levels of the participants. From these results, we could conclude that there simply is no difference in AB for emotional stimuli between the chosen groups of participants, using the eDPT. Alternatively, methodological constraints might have contributed to these null findings.Show less
