A specific association between facial disgust recognition and estradiol levels in naturally cycling women.

Subtle changes in social cognition are associated with naturalistic fluctuations in estrogens and progesterone over the course of the menstrual cycle. Using a dynamic emotion recognition task we aimed to provide a comprehensive description of the association between ovarian hormone levels and emotio...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sunjeev K Kamboj, Kathleen M Krol, H Valerie Curran
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2015-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4398500?pdf=render
id doaj-2933e253e9644677bd04c10bd45e6791
record_format Article
spelling doaj-2933e253e9644677bd04c10bd45e67912020-11-24T21:56:45ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032015-01-01104e012231110.1371/journal.pone.0122311A specific association between facial disgust recognition and estradiol levels in naturally cycling women.Sunjeev K KambojKathleen M KrolH Valerie CurranSubtle changes in social cognition are associated with naturalistic fluctuations in estrogens and progesterone over the course of the menstrual cycle. Using a dynamic emotion recognition task we aimed to provide a comprehensive description of the association between ovarian hormone levels and emotion recognition performance using a variety of performance metrics. Naturally cycling, psychiatrically healthy women attended a single experimental session during a follicular (days 7-13; n = 16), early luteal (days 15-19; n = 14) or late luteal phase (days 22-27; n = 14) of their menstrual cycle. Correct responses and reaction times to dynamic facial expressions were recorded and a two-high threshold analysis was used to assess discrimination and response bias. Salivary progesterone and estradiol were assayed and subjective measures of premenstrual symptoms, anxiety and positive and negative affect assessed. There was no interaction between cycle phase (follicular, early luteal, late luteal) and facial expression (sad, happy, fearful, angry, neutral and disgusted) on any of the recognition performance metrics. However, across the sample as a whole, progesterone levels were positively correlated with reaction times to a variety of facial expressions (anger, happiness, sadness and neutral expressions). In contrast, estradiol levels were specifically correlated with disgust processing on three performance indices (correct responses, response bias and discrimination). Premenstrual symptoms, anxiety and positive and negative affect were not associated with emotion recognition indices or hormone levels. The study highlights the role of naturalistic variations in ovarian hormone levels in modulating emotion recognition. In particular, progesterone seems to have a general slowing effect on facial expression processing. Our findings also provide the first behavioural evidence of a specific role for estrogens in the processing of disgust in humans.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4398500?pdf=render
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Sunjeev K Kamboj
Kathleen M Krol
H Valerie Curran
spellingShingle Sunjeev K Kamboj
Kathleen M Krol
H Valerie Curran
A specific association between facial disgust recognition and estradiol levels in naturally cycling women.
PLoS ONE
author_facet Sunjeev K Kamboj
Kathleen M Krol
H Valerie Curran
author_sort Sunjeev K Kamboj
title A specific association between facial disgust recognition and estradiol levels in naturally cycling women.
title_short A specific association between facial disgust recognition and estradiol levels in naturally cycling women.
title_full A specific association between facial disgust recognition and estradiol levels in naturally cycling women.
title_fullStr A specific association between facial disgust recognition and estradiol levels in naturally cycling women.
title_full_unstemmed A specific association between facial disgust recognition and estradiol levels in naturally cycling women.
title_sort specific association between facial disgust recognition and estradiol levels in naturally cycling women.
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
series PLoS ONE
issn 1932-6203
publishDate 2015-01-01
description Subtle changes in social cognition are associated with naturalistic fluctuations in estrogens and progesterone over the course of the menstrual cycle. Using a dynamic emotion recognition task we aimed to provide a comprehensive description of the association between ovarian hormone levels and emotion recognition performance using a variety of performance metrics. Naturally cycling, psychiatrically healthy women attended a single experimental session during a follicular (days 7-13; n = 16), early luteal (days 15-19; n = 14) or late luteal phase (days 22-27; n = 14) of their menstrual cycle. Correct responses and reaction times to dynamic facial expressions were recorded and a two-high threshold analysis was used to assess discrimination and response bias. Salivary progesterone and estradiol were assayed and subjective measures of premenstrual symptoms, anxiety and positive and negative affect assessed. There was no interaction between cycle phase (follicular, early luteal, late luteal) and facial expression (sad, happy, fearful, angry, neutral and disgusted) on any of the recognition performance metrics. However, across the sample as a whole, progesterone levels were positively correlated with reaction times to a variety of facial expressions (anger, happiness, sadness and neutral expressions). In contrast, estradiol levels were specifically correlated with disgust processing on three performance indices (correct responses, response bias and discrimination). Premenstrual symptoms, anxiety and positive and negative affect were not associated with emotion recognition indices or hormone levels. The study highlights the role of naturalistic variations in ovarian hormone levels in modulating emotion recognition. In particular, progesterone seems to have a general slowing effect on facial expression processing. Our findings also provide the first behavioural evidence of a specific role for estrogens in the processing of disgust in humans.
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4398500?pdf=render
work_keys_str_mv AT sunjeevkkamboj aspecificassociationbetweenfacialdisgustrecognitionandestradiollevelsinnaturallycyclingwomen
AT kathleenmkrol aspecificassociationbetweenfacialdisgustrecognitionandestradiollevelsinnaturallycyclingwomen
AT hvaleriecurran aspecificassociationbetweenfacialdisgustrecognitionandestradiollevelsinnaturallycyclingwomen
AT sunjeevkkamboj specificassociationbetweenfacialdisgustrecognitionandestradiollevelsinnaturallycyclingwomen
AT kathleenmkrol specificassociationbetweenfacialdisgustrecognitionandestradiollevelsinnaturallycyclingwomen
AT hvaleriecurran specificassociationbetweenfacialdisgustrecognitionandestradiollevelsinnaturallycyclingwomen
_version_ 1725857362911166464