| 171. |
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| 172. |
- Ossewaarde, Lindsey, et al.
(author)
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Neural mechanisms underlying changes in stress-sensitivity across the menstrual cycle
- 2010
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In: Psychoneuroendocrinology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0306-4530 .- 1873-3360. ; 35:1, s. 47-55
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Hormonal fluctuations across the menstrual cycle are thought to play a central role in premenstrual mood symptoms. In agreement, fluctuations in gonadal hormone levels affect brain processes in regions involved in emotion regulation. Recent findings, however, implicate psychological stress as a potential mediating factor and thus, we investigated whether effects of moderate psychological stress on relevant brain regions interact with menstrual cycle phase. Twenty-eight healthy women were tested in a crossover design with menstrual cycle phase (late luteal versus late follicular) and stress (stress induction versus control) as within-subject factors. After stress induction (or control), we probed neural responses to facial expressions using fMRI. During the late luteal phase, negative affect was highest and the stress-induced increase in heart rate was mildly augmented. fMRI data of the control condition replicate previous findings of elevated amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex responses when comparing the late luteal with the late follicular phase. Importantly, stress induction had opposite effects in the two cycle phases, with unexpected lower response magnitudes in the late luteal phase. Moreover, the larger the increase in allopregnanolone concentration across the menstrual cycle was, the smaller the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex responses were after stress induction in the late luteal phase. Our findings show that moderate psychological stress influences menstrual cycle effects on activity in the emotion regulation circuitry. These results provide potential insights into how fluctuations in allopregnanolone that naturally occur during the menstrual cycle may change stress vulnerability.
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| 173. |
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| 174. |
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| 175. |
- Peragine, Diana E., et al.
(author)
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A new angle on mental rotation ability in transgender men: Modulation by ovarian milieu
- 2022
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In: Psychoneuroendocrinology. - : PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD. - 0306-4530 .- 1873-3360. ; 141
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Organizational/activational theory posits that transgender individuals should perform in the direction of their gender, not their sex, on cognitive tasks that show sex differences-the largest of which are observed on visuospatial tasks. Yet, tests of this hypothesis have been mixed for transgender men (TM). One possible reason is that performance shifts associated with the hormonal milieu at testing have not been fully considered in TM. Although "activating " influences, like gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT), are well-characterized in this population, endogenous ones, like ovarian cycling, have gone unaddressed. To provide a more complete picture of hormonal activation, we explored an influence of ovarian milieu on visuospatial performance of TM, and its potential contributions toward effects of sex and GAHT. We administered two male-favoring mental rotation tests (MRTs), and a sex-neutral control task to 22 TM naive to GAHT (TM-), 29 TM receiving GAHT (TM+), and cisgender men (CM; n = 24) and women (CW; n = 43), testing cycling men (TM-) and women (CW) in either early follicular phase (Follicular) or midluteal phase (Luteal). On MRTs, performance of TM-varied across the menstrual cycle, and matched that of menstrual phase-matched CW. Additionally, cycling individuals in Follicular performed as strongly as TM+ and CM, all of whom performed above individuals in Luteal. Effects did not extend to a verbal control task, on which TM+ performed below others. Rather than conforming to static categories that suggest sex-or gender-typical organization of cognitive circuits, our findings support dynamic shifts in visuospatial ability of TM, and illustrate the need to consider activating effects of hormones beyond GAHT.
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| 176. |
- Peragine, Diana, et al.
(author)
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KF Sex difference or hormonal difference in mental rotation? The influence of ovarian milieu
- 2020
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In: Psychoneuroendocrinology. - : PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD. - 0306-4530 .- 1873-3360. ; 115
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Sex differences in visuospatial cognition have long been reported, with men being advantaged on the Mental Rotations Test (MRT). The data, however, are variable, and sensitive to design parameters. When men and women are compared directly, with women in different hormonal milieus combined, there seem to be sex differences. When women alone are studied, taking into account different ovarian steroid concentrations and treatments, MRT performance varies with these changes. Indeed, several reports describe better performance among women with reduced estrogens. To better understand whether the sex difference in MRT persists once hormonal status is considered, we recruited reproductive age adults designated male and female at birth (MAB, FAB), and administered the Vandenberg-Kuse (V/K) MRT-comparing performance among MAB (n=169) and FAB (n=219). For FAB combined, we found a sex difference with MAB performing better than FAB. However, when FAB were analyzed by current menstrual cycle phase (Early Follicular (EF), Periovulatory (PO), Midluteal (ML)) or by hormone therapy (transmasculine testosterone administration (TM+), oral contraceptive (OC) ingestion prior to (OC+) or after cognitive testing (OC-)), low-estradiol groups (EF, OC-, TM+) performed as strongly as MAB, and had better MRT than cycling FAB in high-estradiol menstrual cycle phases (PO, ML). On a verbal memory control task, neither a sex difference nor a low estrogen advantage was detected, although performance varied with hormonal milieu. Our findings support a dynamic model of spatial performance and suggest that both MAB and FAB perform strongly on MRT, contingent on hormonal status.
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| 177. |
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| 178. |
- Pfabigan, D. M., et al.
(author)
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The administration of the opioid buprenorphine decreases motivational error signals
- 2021
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In: Psychoneuroendocrinology. - : Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd. - 0306-4530 .- 1873-3360. ; 128
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- While opioid addiction has reached pandemic proportions, we still lack a good understanding of how the administration of opioids interacts with cognitive functions. Error processing - the ability to detect erroneous actions and correct ones behaviour afterwards - is one such cognitive function that might be susceptible to opioidergic influences. Errors are hypothesised to induce aversive negative arousal, while opioids have been suggested to reduce aversive arousal induced by unpleasant and stressful stimuli. Thus, this study investigated whether the acute administration of an opioid would affect error processing. In a double-blind between-subject study, 42 male volunteers were recruited and received either 0.2 mg buprenorphine (a partial mu-opioid receptor agonist and kappa-opioid receptor antagonist) or a placebo pill before they performed a stimulus-response task provoking errors. Electroencephalograms (EEG) were recorded while participants performed the task. We observed no group differences in terms of reaction times, error rates, and affective state ratings during the task between buprenorphine and control participants. Additional measures of adaptive control, however, showed interfering effects of buprenorphine administration. On the neural level, decreased Pe (Error Positivity) amplitudes were found in buprenorphine compared to control participants following error commission. Further, frontal delta oscillations were decreased in the buprenorphine group after all responses. Our neural results jointly demonstrate a general reduction in error processing in those participants who received an opioid before task completion, thereby suggesting that opioids might have indeed the potential to dampen motivational error signals. Importantly, the effects of the opioid were evident in more elaborate error processing stages, thereby impacting on processes of conscious error appraisal and evidence accumulation.
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| 179. |
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| 180. |
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