Lab study, 1983
Does being in heat change how female rats remember what they learned?
No. Female rats in heat did not show state-dependent memory, unlike male rats given a drug or stressed rats.
What they did
Researchers tested whether memory formation changed depending on a rat's body state. They used a flavor avoidance test to measure memory in male rats given pentobarbital, stressed rats, and ovariectomized female rats brought into heat with estrogen and progesterone injections.
What they found
Male rats given pentobarbital showed state-dependent memory. Stressed rats also showed it. But female rats in heat did not show state-dependent memory - they remembered their learning regardless of the body state they were in.
What it means for you
Heat (estrus) in rats did not work the way researchers expected for memory formation. Rats' heat cycle is very different from the human menstrual cycle, so this finding may not tell us much about how periods affect women's memory.
10 mg/kg
pentobarbital dose
About the study
- Original title
- Persistence of flavor neophobia as an indicator of state-dependent retention induced by pentobarbital, stress, and estrus
- Authors
- Morilak DA, Orndoff RK, Riccio DC et al.
- Journal
- Behavioral and neural biology
- Year
- 1983
- Study design
- Lab study
- What was tested
- Pentobarbital (10 mg/kg), stress, and estrogen and progesterone injections
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/s0163-1047(83)90369-2
Topics
Related studies
Review, 2024
What is premenstrual exacerbation and how does it affect different psychiatric illnesses?
Systematic review, 2022
Do mental health disorders get worse during the menstrual cycle?
Study, 2026
Do anxiety and depression get worse before your period if you already have a mental health condition?
Survey study, 2025
Do women with PMS have higher anxiety, stress, and different personality traits?
Lab study, 2020
Does anxiety sensitivity change during different parts of the menstrual cycle?
Randomised trial, 2020
Does an oxaloacetate and vitamin C combination reduce emotional symptoms of PMS?