Menstrual cycle effects on perceptual closure mediate changes in performance on a fragmented objects test of implicit memory

Abstract

Healthy premenopausal women with regular menstrual cycles were assessed on a fragmented objects test of implicit memory. Testing took place at either the low estrogen (n=17) or the high estrogen (n=16) stages of the menstrual cycle. Concentrations of ovarian hormones were confirmed by saliva assays. Both groups of women exhibited a priming effect, in that primed objects were identified faster and at greater fragmentation than unprimed objects. There was no evidence that high estrogen inhibits perceptual object priming. However, women at the menstrual phase were able to identify both primed and unprimed objects at a more degraded level of fragmentation. Changes in perceptual closure over the menstrual cycle may be the basis for the changes in performance on the fragmented objects test observed in previous studies.