Association of menstrual cycle phase with the core components of empathy

Abstract

Evidence has accumulated that emotion recognition performance varies with menstrual cycle phase. However, according to some empathy models, facial affect recognition constitutes only one component of empathic behavior, besides emotional perspective taking and affective responsiveness. It remains unclear whether menstrual cycle phase and thus estradiol and progesterone levels are also associated with the two other empathy constructs.Therefore, we investigated 40 healthy right-handed females, 20 during their follicular phase and 20 during their midluteal phase and compared their performance in three tasks tapping the empathic components as well as self-report data. Salivary hormone levels were obtained and correlated with performance parameters. Subjects were matched for age and education and did not differ in neuropsychological function. Analysis of empathy performance revealed a significant effect of phase in emotion recognition, showing higher accuracy in the follicular group. Regarding affective responsiveness, we observed a significant difference in reaction times, with faster responses for sad and angry stimuli in the midluteal group. No significant group difference emerged for emotional perspective taking. Furthermore, significant correlations between progesterone levels and emotion recognition accuracy and affective responsiveness emerged only in the luteal group. However, groups did not differ in self-reported empathy.Our results indicate that menstrual cycle phase and thus ovarian hormone concentration are differentially related to empathic behavior, particularly emotion recognition and responsiveness to negative situations, with progesterone covarying with both in the luteal phase.

Emotional Experience and Recognition across Menstrual Cycle and in Premenstrual Disorder

“…Finally, it is important to note that in addition to the significant differences in sadness, we expected to find between-group differences in relation to other emotions as well -especially fear and angry-as other authors have reported (Conway et al, 2007;Derntl et al, 2013;Gasbarri et al, 2008;Pearson & Lewis, 2005). In contrast to that study, however, our research found that all five groups generated similar performance for all emotions except sadness.…”

“…These findings are corroborated by a report on decreased facial recognition accuracy up on acute progesterone administration (van Wingen et al, 2007). Women also demonstrate a greater tendency to perceive fearful expressions (with averted as compared to direct gaze) as more intense if progesterone levels are high (Conway et al, 2007), and respond faster to sad and angry situations or sad faces in the mid-luteal phase (Derntl et al, 2013;Gasbarri et al, 2008), as well as to other aversive stimuli, such as snakes (Masataka & Shibasaki, 2012). In their study, Pearson and Lewis (2005) assessed the ability to recognize emotional expressions in women in the four phases of the menstrual cycle.…”

“…However, they found no interaction between emotions and menstrual phases. In a later study, these researchers (Derntl, Hack, Kryspin-Exner, & Habel, 2013) found that although women in follicular phase has higher emotional recognition accuracy than women in midluteal phase, this last group presents a significant difference in reaction times, with faster responses for sad and angry stimuli. In addition, they found significant correlations between progesterone levels and emotion recognition accuracy and affective responsiveness only in the luteal group.…”

Empathy: Gender effects in brain and behavior

“…Indeed, while biological gender is clearly important, sexual preferences (e.g., Perry et al, 2013; Sergeant et al, 2006), within-gender differences in prenatal hormone exposure (e.g., Chapman et al, 2006), hormone reactivity, and, in females, effects of ovulatory hormones (Derntl et al, 2013) are highly important, suggesting that the complexity of defining gender is reflected in individual differences in empathy. Individuals sexually attracted to males showed greater empathy (in behavioral measures) and greater activation during an emotional judgment task in an area whose activation was correlated with self-reported empathizing, than subjects attracted to females (Perry et al, 2013).…”

O Uso de Biomarcadores em Pesquisas de Marketing

“…Oscilações hormonais podem alterar a ingesta alimentar, embora a relação ainda seja controversa (Kuga, Ikeda, & Suzuki, 1999;McVay, Copeland, Newman, & Geiselman, 2012;Saad & Stenstrom, 2012), e o mesmo acontece com decisões financeiras (Pine & Fletcher, 2011) e comportamento social (Derntl, Hack, Kryspin-Exner, & Habel, 2013;Jones et al, 2005;Markey & Markey, 2011;Romans, Clarkson, Einstein, Petrovic, & Stewart, 2012;Schwartz, Romans, Meiyappan, De Souza, & Einstein, 2012).…”