Abstract
Background: We systematically reviewed the literature to determine the influence of sex hormones on facial emotion processing (FEP) in healthy women at different phases of life.Methods: Searches were performed in PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, LILACS, and SciELO. Twenty-seven articles were included in the review and allocated into five different categories according to their objectives and sample characteristics (menstrual cycle, oral contraceptives, pregnancy/postpartum, testosterone, and progesterone).Results: Despite the limited number of studies in some categories and the existence of inconsistencies in the results of interest, the findings of the review suggest that FEP may be enhanced during the follicular phase. Studies with women taking oral contraceptives showed reduced recognition accuracy and decreased responsiveness of different brain structures during FEP tasks. Studies with pregnant women and women in the postpartum showed that hormonal changes are associated with alterations in FEP and in brain functioning that could indicate the existence of a hypervigilant state in new and future mothers. Exogenous administration of testosterone enhanced the recognition of threatening facial expressions and the activation of brain structures involved in the processing of emotional stimuli.Conclusions: We conclude that sex hormones affect FEP in women, which may have an impact in adaptive processes of the species and in the onset of mood symptoms associated with the premenstrual syndrome.
Highlights
Behavioral research has strengthened the view that sex hormones are involved in reproductive behavior or sexual dimorphism, but play an important role in different cognitive and emotional processes, in non-verbal behavior and in the functioning of a number of brain structures (Maki et al, 2002; van Wingen et al, 2011; Poromaa and Gingnell, 2014)
Considering that facial emotion processing (FEP) is an important element of social cognition that contributes widely to the success of social interactions (Almada, 2012) and that alterations in the processing and recognition of emotional states in others are connected with many psychiatric disorders, the objective of this study was to investigate, through a systematic review of the literature, the influence of endogenous and exogenous sex hormones in the processing of basic facial expressions of emotion in healthy women at different phases of life
We performed a systematic search with no time limits in the electronic databases Pubmed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, LILACS, and SciELO using the following MeSH terms: AND AND
Summary
Behavioral research has strengthened the view that sex hormones are involved in reproductive behavior or sexual dimorphism, but play an important role in different cognitive and emotional processes, in non-verbal behavior and in the functioning of a number of brain structures (Maki et al, 2002; van Wingen et al, 2011; Poromaa and Gingnell, 2014). The influence of sex hormones raises special interest because of physiological fluctuations that occur at the different phases of the menstrual cycle, during pregnancy (Klink et al, 2002) and in the postpartum (Bloch et al, 2000). During the normal menstrual cycle, for example, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) peaks increase slowly and progressively in both amplitude and frequency shortly after menstrual bleeding. This leads to endometrial thickening and maturation of the ovarian follicle. We systematically reviewed the literature to determine the influence of sex hormones on facial emotion processing (FEP) in healthy women at different phases of life
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