Marecková Klara, Perrin Jennifer S, Nawaz Khan Irum, Lawrence Claire, Dickie Erin, McQuiggan Doug A, Paus Tomás
Rotman Research Institute, 3560 Bathurst St., Toronto, Ontario M6A 2E1, Canada.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2014 Feb;9(2):191-200. doi: 10.1093/scan/nss128. Epub 2012 Nov 21.
Both behavioral and neuroimaging evidence support a female advantage in the perception of human faces. Here we explored the possibility that this relationship may be partially mediated by female sex hormones by investigating the relationship between the brain's response to faces and the use of oral contraceptives, as well as the phase of the menstrual cycle. First, functional magnetic resonance images were acquired in 20 young women [10 freely cycling and 10 taking oral contraception (OC)] during two phases of their cycle: mid-cycle and menstruation. We found stronger neural responses to faces in the right fusiform face area (FFA) in women taking oral contraceptives (vs freely cycling women) and during mid-cycle (vs menstruation) in both groups. Mean blood oxygenation level-dependent response in both left and right FFA increased as function of the duration of OC use. Next, this relationship between the use of OC and FFA response was replicated in an independent sample of 110 adolescent girls. Finally in a parallel behavioral study carried out in another sample of women, we found no evidence of differences in the pattern of eye movements while viewing faces between freely cycling women vs those taking oral contraceptives. The imaging findings might indicate enhanced processing of social cues in women taking OC and women during mid-cycle.
行为学和神经影像学证据均支持女性在人脸识别方面具有优势。在此，我们通过研究大脑对面部的反应与口服避孕药的使用以及月经周期阶段之间的关系，探讨了这种关系可能部分由女性性激素介导的可能性。首先，在20名年轻女性[10名月经周期正常和10名服用口服避孕药（OC）]的月经周期的两个阶段：周期中期和月经期，采集功能磁共振图像。我们发现，服用口服避孕药的女性（与月经周期正常的女性相比）以及两组在周期中期（与月经期相比），右侧梭状脸区（FFA）对面部有更强的神经反应。左右FFA的平均血氧水平依赖反应随OC使用时间的延长而增加。接下来，在110名青春期女孩的独立样本中重复了OC使用与FFA反应之间的这种关系。最后，在另一组女性样本中进行的一项平行行为学研究中，我们没有发现月经周期正常的女性与服用口服避孕药女性在观看面部时眼动模式存在差异的证据。影像学研究结果可能表明，服用OC的女性和处于周期中期的女性对社交线索的处理能力增强。
