---
title: Does the menstrual cycle affect how well women do at computer tasks?
description: No, computer task performance and thinking ability showed no change across different phases of the menstrual cycle.
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/menstrual-cycle-effects-on-a-vdt-based-simulation-task-cognitive-indices-and-1993/
---

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- Does the menstrual cycle affect how well women do at computer tasks?

Survey study, 1993

# Does the menstrual cycle affect how well women do at computer tasks?

No, computer task performance and thinking ability showed no change across different phases of the menstrual cycle.

 Early or limited evidence

Women performing computer tasks (sample size not reported)

## What they did

Cross-sectional study measuring how women performed on a computer-based task and reported their symptoms during three menstrual cycle phases: premenstrual, menstrual, and postmenstrual.

## What they found

Task performance, cognitive measures based on signal detection theory, and subjective symptom ratings showed no significant differences across the three menstrual cycle phases.

## What it means for you

Mental performance on routine computer tasks does not appear to be affected by where someone is in their menstrual cycle. However, the study did not clearly report sample size and methods, making it difficult to assess how reliable these findings are.

3

menstrual cycle phases tested

## About the study

Original title Menstrual cycle effects on a VDT-based simulation task: cognitive indices and subjective ratings Authors Nakatani C, Sato N, Matsui M et al. Journal Ergonomics Year 1993 Study design Survey study What was tested Computer-based task during three different menstrual cycle phases Read the paper [doi.org/10.1080/00140139308967890](https://doi.org/10.1080/00140139308967890)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Menstrual cycle and mood](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-cycle-mood/)[Cognition, concentration and memory](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-cognition/)

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Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor.

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