Dopamine (DA) has been found to play a critical role in goal-directed behavior with estrogen, a modulator of dopamine, in particular, influencing cognitive control. However, little is known about...Show moreDopamine (DA) has been found to play a critical role in goal-directed behavior with estrogen, a modulator of dopamine, in particular, influencing cognitive control. However, little is known about the modulatory effects of female sex hormones on performance monitoring, an integral component of goal-pursuit, as measured by the event-related negativity (ERN), across varying hormone concentrations of the menstrual cycle. Dopamine has been found to relate to pre- frontal cortex function by way of an inverted-U curve with deficient or surplus levels resulting in impaired performance. The aim of the present study is to assess if the ERN differs between the early follicular and midluteal phases of the menstrual cycle, in response to varying estrogen and progesterone concentrations, and if the direction of this effect is modulated by baseline dopamine as measured by eyeblink rate (an indirect index of dopaminergic functioning). A within-subject, counterbalanced, design was employed to assess EEG data of 41 natural- cycling women using the Flanker paradigm during the early follicular, when estradiol and progesterone are low, and midluteal, when estradiol and progesterone are high, phases of the menstrual cycle. It was hypothesized that baseline dopamine, as indexed by eyeblink rate, in the early follicular phase influenced performance monitoring, as indexed by event-related negativity (ERN), in the luteal phase. The main results analyzing the effect of correctness and menstrual phase on the ERN, using a two-way repeated measures ANOVA, was nonsignificant indicating no difference in performance monitoring across varying sex hormones of the menstrual cycle. These findings contribute to a large body of research that report nonsignificant effects of female sex hormones on task-performance.Show less
