Memory in pregnancy. I: Subjective experiences and objective assessment of implicit, explicit and working memory in primigravid and primiparous women

Abstract

This study investigated the belief held by over 50% of parous women that they are more forgetful during pregnancy and postpartum relative to other times. Comparisons were made between both the reported and objective memory performances of three groups of women (n = 20 per group), (1) primigravid, (2) primiparous (baby younger than 12 months), and (3) never been pregnant, matched on age and education levels. Participants completed a questionnaire on demographic, health, and sleep details, the Inventory of Memory Experiences, and tests of implicit, explicit, and working memory. The groups did not differ on self-rated levels of physical or emotional health, or anxiety level. The primigravid and primiparous groups reported overall poorer memory performance since pregnancy relative to controls. The primigravid group also reported significantly more sleep disruption, with this being a significant predictor of reported memory change. On the objective tests, there were no differences between groups on the implicit and explicit memory tests, but the primigravid and primiparous groups scored significantly lower on a test of working memory. Self-reports of memory change during pregnancy and postpartum may be related to life changes, such as sleep change, and may reflect changed perceptions rather than objective changes.

Self‐perception of cognitive changes during pregnancy and the early postpartum: salience and attentional effects

“…The majority of previous studies have asked only for ratings of general memory ability (Brindle et al, 1991;Casey et al, 1999;Christensen et al, 1999;Janes et al, 1999;McDowell and Moriarty, 2000;Sharp et al, 1993). Those that have examined other aspects of cognition Kane et al, 1968;Parsons and Redman, 1991;Poser et al, 1986) have shown that in addition to memory difficulties, some pregnant women also report increased absentmindedness and impairments in concentration, reading ability and clarity of thought.…”

“…Welch, 1991). Evidence for such an impairment has not always been forthcoming from studies using objective measures of cognitive performance (Christensen et al, 1999) and sometimes the evidence has been contradictory (Brindle et al, 1991;McDowell and Moriarty, 2000;Sharp et al, 1993;Janes et al, 1999). Even where measurable changes have been apparent, the performance of the pregnant women is still often within the normal range Keenan et al, 1998).…”

“…Nevertheless, studies in which women rate their cognitive abilities in pregnancy compared with their usual performance show that many perceive a decline during pregnancy (e.g. Brindle et al, 1991;Casey et al, 1999;Christensen et al, 1999;Janes et al, 1999;McDowell and Moriarty, 2000;Parsons and Redman, 1991;Poser et al, 1986;Sharp et al, 1993). Yet it is not clear how salient these changes are in the overall context of the many changes accompanying pregnancy.…”

Implicit memory varies across the menstrual cycle: estrogen effects in young women

“…Data from our previous study of implicit memory across the lifespan [30] indicate a slight female advantage on CEG priming (P =0.06) and a significant advantage on conceptual explicit memory (see Appendix A). Conversely, studies of memory during pregnancy lead to the speculation that unusually high levels of sex steroid hormones may detrimentally affect performance on both explicit and implicit memory tests [5,7,23,42]. Pregnancy is characterized by dramatic hormonal fluctuations, including unusually high levels of estrogen, progesterone, oxytocin, and other hormones [15].…”

“…word-stem completion). Two studies reported impairments among pregnant women [5,42], and two other studies found no difference between pregnant and nonpregnant women on the test [7,23]. Isolating and understanding the influence of estrogen on memory in pregnancy is difficult because the hormonal milieu is complex and fluctuates throughout pregnancy and the relation between estrogen levels and memory performance may be nonlinear.…”