Study of Audiovisual Reaction Time in Different Phases of Menstrual Cycle

Abstract

Reaction time is an indirect index of processing capabilities of the central nervous system. The present study was carried out to determine if there is any influence of different phases of menstrual cycle on simple reaction time in healthy young females. In this study, 50 young healthy female participants were presented with two visual stimuli viz. red and green light stimuli and two auditory stimuli viz. tone and click sound stimuli. Their reaction time to auditory as well as visual stimuli was recorded. Results were expressed as mean and standard deviation and data was analyzed using paired't’ test, ‘z’ test and software statistical package social science (spss version 18) was used. There was no significant difference observed when the reaction time was compared between three phases of menstrual cycle i.e. proliferative, secretory and menstrual phase for visual stimuli and auditory stimuli. There is no influence of the different phases of menstruation on the visual and auditory reaction time and hence menstrual cycle of a female need not be scrutinised for those working in professions requiring faster reaction times.