Case-control study, 2019
Does PMS affect a woman's ability to concentrate and think clearly?
Women with PMS performed just as accurately as women without PMS on thinking and attention tasks during all phases of their cycle. Women with PMS worked more slowly on one task but made no more mistakes.
What they did
Case-control study comparing women with and without PMS over three menstrual cycles. Both groups completed cognitive tests including digit span and letter detection tasks, with measurements of both speed and accuracy.
What they found
PMS women and non-PMS women achieved equal accuracy on both cognitive tasks regardless of menstrual cycle phase. However, PMS women took longer on the letter detection task overall, though accuracy remained comparable.
What it means for you
Having PMS does not impair your thinking or decision-making during your PMS phase. You might work at a slower pace on some tasks, but your accuracy stays the same. The study was small with limited detail in the abstract, and focused on lab tasks rather than real-world performance.
3
Menstrual cycles studied
About the study
- Original title
- PMS: Cyclical variation in attentional capacity with PMS and non-PMS women
- Authors
- Francine Linda Greenstein
- Journal
- Digital Scholarship - UNLV (University of Nevada Reno)
- Year
- 2019
- Study design
- Case-control study
- What was tested
- Cognitive testing across different menstrual cycle phases
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.25669/nkcy-d8g2
Topics
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