---
title: Does how well women recognize emotions change during the menstrual cycle?
description: Women recognized emotions better during the follicular phase when progesterone levels were lower. This suggests progesterone may affect how well women read em
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/emotion-recognition-accuracy-in-healthy-young-females-is-associated-with-cycle-2008/
---

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- Does how well women recognize emotions change during the menstrual cycle?

Survey study, 2008

# Does how well women recognize emotions change during the menstrual cycle?

Women recognized emotions better during the follicular phase when progesterone levels were lower. This suggests progesterone may affect how well women read emotions in faces.

 Early or limited evidence

32 healthy young women

## What they did

Researchers tested 32 healthy young women on recognizing emotions in faces during two different cycle phases and measured their hormone levels.

## What they found

Women in the follicular phase showed higher accuracy at recognizing emotions than women in the luteal phase. There was a clear link between lower progesterone levels and better emotion recognition.

## What it means for you

Progesterone may affect the ability to recognize emotions, but this study was small and only included healthy young women. It does not show whether this affects everyday life or applies to all women.

32

women studied

15

during follicular phase

17

during luteal phase

## About the study

Original title Emotion recognition accuracy in healthy young females is associated with cycle phase Authors Derntl B, Kryspin-Exner I, Fernbach E et al. Journal Hormones and behavior Year 2008 Study design Survey study Read the paper [doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2007.09.006](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2007.09.006)

## Topics

[Menstrual cycle and mood](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-cycle-mood/)[Cognition, concentration and memory](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-cognition/)[Stigma, attitudes and culture](https://niyora.com/research/topics/life-area-stigma-culture/)

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