Emotion and birth control: Emotion regulation ERPs differ based on menstrual cycle phase and hormonal contraceptive use.

While hormonal contraceptives (HCs) like oral contraceptive pills (OCs) and intrauterine devices (IUDs) can reportedly influence mood, the evidence is mixed, and the mechanisms remain unclear. Emotion reactivity and regulation processes may be hormone-sensitive and underlie these mood changes. This study sought to investigate the role of the menstrual cycle and HC use in emotion regulation using ERP measures during an emotion regulation paradigm. Participants with a natural cycle (NC) were measured in the mid-follicular and mid-luteal phase (within-subject design, n = 26), and compared with OC (n = 36) and IUD (n = 25) users. The centroparietal late positive potential (LPP) reflected negative emotion reactivity and its modulation by cognitive reappraisal served as a marker for emotion regulation processing. NC participants had a lower LPP amplitude in the mid-luteal compared to the mid-follicular phase. Reactivity to negative emotional stimuli decreased over time in the mid-luteal phase, whereas the HC groups showed sustained LPP activation. Reappraisal led only to significant LPP changes in the mid-follicular phase, and not in the mid-luteal phase or HC groups. Our results showed a specific left frontal activity (FR-LPP) in the contrast that reflected emotion regulation processing. This activity was highest in the mid-follicular phase, and was significantly different from the OC users but not from the IUD group. Higher self-reported PMS symptoms were associated with stronger effects on the reduced mid-luteal LPP activity and with lower FR-LPP amplitude in the mid-follicular phase. No effect of OC phase (active pill use versus pill pause) was found. These findings add insights into the neurophysiological underpinnings of hormone-related mood changes and demonstrate the importance of considering hormonal status and PMS symptoms in emotion research.

Doornweerd AM ，Baas JMP ，Montoya ER ，van de Vijver I ，Gerritsen L ... -  《-》

The levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine device is related to early emotional reactivity: An ERP study.

Zelionkaitė I ，Gaižauskaitė R ，Uusberg H ，Uusberg A ，Ambrasė A ，Derntl B ，Grikšienė R ... -  《-》

Progesterone mediates the late positive potentials evoked by affective pictures in high neuroticism females.

Neuroticism, which is a personality trait characterized by the tendency to experience negative affect, is associated with premenstrual negative emotion changes. The present ERP study intended to investigate how neuroticism and the menstrual cycle influence the evaluation of emotion as a function of the tested levels of ovarian hormones. Forty-two healthy females with regular menstrual cycles were grouped by neuroticism (N): 16 were included in the high-N group, and 26 were included in the low-N group. Each female performed an emotion evaluation task in the early follicular phase, late follicular phase and luteal phase while the ERPs, hormone samples and Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance (PAD) mood ratings were measured. The PAD and behavioral data did not differ between the two groups during the three phases. However, the mean amplitude of the Late Positive Potentials (LPP, 300-1000ms post-stimulus) of ERPs was significantly larger in the high-N group than that in the low-N group. Moreover, the interaction between the group and phase was significant 2000-4000ms post-stimulus: for the high-N group, the LPP of the luteal phase was the largest, followed by the late follicular phase and the early follicular phase; whereas the LPP of the luteal phase was the largest, followed by the early follicular phase and the late follicular phase for the low-N group. More importantly, the LPP (300-4000ms post-stimulus) evoked by positive pictures from the central or parietal area was significantly negatively correlated with the progesterone level in the early follicular phase. The present study provides electrophysiological evidence showing that both the menstrual cycle and neuroticism modulate the LPP evoked by emotional pictures. Furthermore, the negative correlation between progesterone and the amplitude of the LPP suggests that the effect of the menstrual cycle on the LPP may be primarily a function of progesterone. These findings suggest that the LPP evoked by emotional pictures for high and low neuroticism females change throughout the menstrual cycle and that this change is in part mediated by progesterone.

Zhang W ，Zhou R ，Wang Q ，Zhao Y ，Liu Y ... -  《-》

Effects of oral contraceptives on plasma neutral amino acids and cholesterol during a menstrual cycle.

Moller SE ，Moller BM ，Olesen M ，Fjalland B ... -  《EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY》

Sensitivity of the late positive potentials evoked by emotional pictures to neuroticism during the menstrual cycle.

The present event-related potentials (ERPs) study set out to investigate the effect of neuroticism on emotion evaluation during the menstrual cycle, with high and low neuroticism females viewing and evaluating valence and arousal of emotional pictures in the menstruation, late follicular and luteal phases. Behavioral results revealed no group or phase effect. ERPs data showed modulations of the menstrual cycle and neuroticism on the late positive potential (LPP), with the larger LPP (300-1000 ms post-stimulus) during the late follicular phase than that during the luteal phase and larger LPP (1000-3000 ms post-stimulus) in the high neuroticism group than that in the low neuroticism group. Furthermore, significant positive correlations between the LPP amplitudes and valence and arousal evaluations were observed mainly in the high neuroticism group. The present study provides electrophysiological evidences that the LPP evoked by emotional pictures are modulated both by the menstrual cycle and neuroticism.

Zhang W ，Zhou R ，Wang Q ，Zhao Y ，Liu Y ... -  《-》