Abstract
Perception of emotional valence and emotional memory performance vary across the menstrual cycle. However, the consequences of altered ovarian hormone levels due to the intake of hormonal contraceptives on these emotional and cognitive processes remain to be established. In the present study, which included 2169 healthy young females, we show that hormonal contraceptives (HC) users rated emotional pictures as more emotional than HC-non-users and outperformed non-users in terms of better memory recall of emotional pictures. The observed association between HC-status and memory performance was partially mediated by the perception of emotional picture valence, indicating that increased valence ratings of emotional pictures in HC-users led to their better emotional memory performance. These findings extend the knowledge about the relation of HC-intake with emotional valence perception and emotional memory performance. Further, the findings might stimulate further research investigating the interrelation of enhanced memory for emotional events and the increased risk for anxiety-related psychiatric disorders in women.
Highlights
Puberty, pregnancy, postpartum, and menopause constitute prominent phases in a woman’s life and are accompanied by significant variations in ovarian hormone levels [1]
Post hoc tests showed that pictures from the emotional valence categories were significantly more extremely rated compared to neutral pictures (positive vs. neutral: t(4336) = −135.91, p < 2.2 × 10−16; negative vs. neutral: t(4336) = −184.63, p < 2.2 × 10−16)
Post hoc tests for each picture valence category separately showed that hormonal contraceptives (HC)-yes women rated the valence of negative (t(2167) = 3.50, p = 0.0005, d = 0.15), as well as positive pictures (t(2167) = −3.90, p = 0.0001, d = −0.17) as more extreme than HC-no women
Summary
Pregnancy, postpartum, and menopause constitute prominent phases in a woman’s life and are accompanied by significant variations in ovarian hormone levels [1]. These major hormonal transition periods seem to be critical time points for the increase in prevalence rates of mood disorders like major depression [1, 2]. By comparison to men, women are more likely to develop mood and anxiety disorders [3,4,5,6] In patients with these psychiatric disorders the dysregulation of emotional processes is one of the core symptoms giving rise to the respective diagnosis [7, 8]. Multiple factors contribute to this well-known emotional memory enhancement effect, one of which is sex [12]
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