How do memory and attention change with pregnancy and childbirth? A controlled longitudinal examination of neuropsychological functioning in pregnant and postpartum women

Abstract

Current literature on cognitive functioning in pregnancy and postpartum is mixed, with most research showing deficits in memory and attention during pregnancy or no difference between pregnant participants and controls with little emphasis on the postpartum period. In the current study, we used a longitudinal controlled design and 42 primarily not depressed participants to compare pregnant women in the third trimester and approximately three months postpartum with matched controls over the same time period on neuropsychological domains including memory, attention, learning, visuospatial, and executive functioning. We also evaluated the role of mood and quality of life as potential moderators of cognitive functioning in pregnancy/postpartum. Results indicated no differences between controls and pregnant/postpartum women on neuropsychological measures at any time points. Self-reported memory difficulties, however, were higher in the pregnant/postpartum women. Pregnant and postpartum women had worse self-reported mood and quality of life than controls. Mood and quality of life slightly moderated specific measures of attention and verbal fluency; however, neither mood nor quality of life moderated overall neuropsychological functioning in either group. Number of previous pregnancies had no effect on the study findings. Results suggest differences in subjective memory complaints, but no differences in objective neuropsychological test results between controls and pregnant/postpartum women who are primarily not diagnosed with depression.

Common and divergent psychobiological mechanisms underlying maternal behaviors in non-human and human mammals

“…Short-term, implicit, and recognition memory were unaffected by reproductive state, however, suggesting that only memory tasks involving high-demand cognitive processing are affected by reproductive state. Most studies on this topic published since the meta-analysis generally support these conclusions (e.g., Cuttler, Graf, Pawluski, & Galea, 2011; Henry & Sherwin, 2012; Wilson et al, 2011; but see Logan, Hill, Jones, Holt-Lunstad, & Larson, 2014). Endocrine factors associated with these memory impairments include higher circulating progesterone and PRL during pregnancy (Henry & Sherwin, 2012; Wilson et al, 2011), lower dihydroestradiol acetate during pregnancy, relatively high or low corticosterone pre- and postpartum (Buckwalter et al, 1999; Henry & Sherwin, 2012), and high estradiol during both time periods (Glynn, 2010).…”

Memory in pregnancy and post‐partum: Item specific and relational encoding processes in recall and recognition

“…In agreement with subjective complaints, a number of investigations have found pregnant and/or post‐partum women to perform worse than non‐pregnant controls in tasks of explicit verbal memory (Brindle et al ., ; de Groot, Vuurman, Hornstra & Jolles, ; Henry & Sherwin, ; Keenan, Yaldoo, Stress, Fuerst & Ginsburg, ; Mickes, Wixted, Shapiro & Scarff, ; Sharp, Brindle, Brown & Turner, ). However, other studies have reported little evidence for a difference in memory performance between pregnant/post‐partum and control women (Casey, ; Christensen, Poyser, Pollitt & Cubis, ; Crawley, Dennison & Carter, ; Harris, Deary, Harris, Lees & Wilson, ; Logan, Hill, Jones, Holt‐Lunstad & Larson, ; McDowall & Moriarty, ). At least part of this incongruence might be related to the type of memory task being employed, since a meta‐analysis by Henry and Rendell () concluded that both pregnant and post‐partum women were impaired in immediate and delayed free recall (i.e., two tests that place high demands on executive control), whereas no significant decreases were observed in recognition and implicit memory tasks (i.e., two tests that place low demands on executive control).…”

“…Finally, besides testing the above predictions, we also examined whether variations in the mood experienced by the three groups of women could account for their memory deficits (Logan et al ., ; Mickes et al ., ).…”

Differences in navigation performance and postpartal striatal volume associated with pregnancy in humans

“…Since the previous literature on cognitive performance of pregnant women is contradictory (Christensen, Leach, & Mackinnon, 2010;Glynn, 2010;Henry & Rendell, 2007;Logan, Hill, Jones, Holt-Lunstad, & Larson, 2014) and it is not clear yet, whether pregnancy goes along with reliable performance decreases in specific cognitive abilities. Therefore, we included an extensive cognitive test battery to compare performance of pregnant and non-pregnant women in an exploratory manner.…”