Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, USA.
Learn Mem. 2011 Nov 18;18(12):759-63. doi: 10.1101/lm.023267.111. Print 2011 Dec.
Significant sex differences in the well-documented relationship between stress hormones and memory have emerged in recent studies. The potentiating effects of glucocorticoids on memory vary across the menstrual cycle, suggesting a potential interaction between these stress hormones and endogenously cycling sex hormones. Here, we show that memory for emotional materials changes significantly in accordance with hormonal changes across the menstrual cycle, suggesting that ovarian sex hormones influence the modulation of emotional memories. Sixty healthy, naturally cycling women rated 120 images on arousal and valence. One week later they completed free recall and recognition memory tests. Their menstrual cycle phases were estimated by self-report and confirmed by salivary assay of 17β-estradiol and progesterone. Memory for emotional items only was significantly better in the high hormone (luteal) phase compared with the low hormone (follicular) phase on the free recall test; on both tests memory correlated positively with progesterone collected at the time of encoding. These findings suggest that emotional memory performance changes across the menstrual cycle, and that this change is in part mediated by endogenous progesterone cycling.
近年来的研究表明，应激激素与记忆之间的关系在很大程度上存在性别差异。糖皮质激素对记忆的增强作用在月经周期中存在差异，这表明这些应激激素与内源性循环性激素之间可能存在相互作用。在这里，我们表明，情绪材料的记忆会根据月经周期中的激素变化而显著变化，这表明卵巢性激素会影响情绪记忆的调节。60 名健康、自然循环的女性对 120 张图片的唤醒度和效价进行了评分。一周后，她们完成了自由回忆和识别记忆测试。她们的月经周期阶段通过自我报告来估计，并通过唾液检测 17β-雌二醇和孕酮来确认。在自由回忆测试中，与低激素（卵泡）期相比，高激素（黄体）期对情绪项目的记忆明显更好；在这两项测试中，记忆与编码时收集的孕激素呈正相关。这些发现表明，情绪记忆表现会随月经周期而变化，而这种变化部分是由内源性孕激素循环介导的。
