---
title: How do thinking abilities change during the menstrual cycle? | Niyora
description: Women performed best on mental rotation tasks during menstrual and early follicular phases (low hormone times), best on word fluency during menstrual and mid-
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/verbal-and-spatial-functions-during-different-phases-of-the-menstrual-cycle-2012/
---

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- How do thinking abilities change during the menstrual cycle?

Study, 2012

# How do thinking abilities change during the menstrual cycle?

Women performed best on mental rotation tasks during menstrual and early follicular phases (low hormone times), best on word fluency during menstrual and mid-luteal phases. Anxiety and masculine/feminine feelings stayed the same.

 Early or limited evidence

17 women with regular menstrual cycles

## What they did

17 women with regular menstrual cycles completed cognitive tests at four different cycle phases: menstrual, early follicular, pre-ovulation, and mid-luteal. Tests measured how well they could mentally rotate three-dimensional objects and how many words they could generate quickly. They also answered questionnaires about personality traits, anxiety, and how masculine or feminine they felt.

## What they found

Women performed best on mental rotation tasks during menstrual and early follicular phases when sex hormone levels were low. During these phases they also showed more masculine traits. Best word fluency performance occurred during menstrual and mid-luteal phases. Anxiety levels and femininity scores did not change across the cycle.

## What it means for you

Sex hormones appear to influence how well the brain performs on different types of mental tasks. When hormone levels drop, women performed better on tasks where men typically do better. This study was small with only 17 women and tested only two specific cognitive tasks, so these results may not apply to all types of thinking or all women.

17

Women studied

4

Menstrual cycle phases tested

## About the study

Original title Verbal and spatial functions during different phases of the menstrual cycle Authors Simić N, Santini M Journal Psychiatria Danubina Year 2012 Study design Study What was tested None Open access Yes Read the paper [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22447089/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22447089/)

## Topics

[Menstrual cycle and mood](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-cycle-mood/)[Anxiety and tension](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-anxiety/)[Cognition, concentration and memory](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-cognition/)

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