van der Molen G M, Merckelbach H, van den Hout M A
Department of Medical Psychology, Limburg University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 1988 Jun;19(2):127-33. doi: 10.1016/0005-7916(88)90026-2.
Biological changes due to the menstrual cycle may account for the fact that fears are not equally distributed between the sexes. In a differential, classical conditioning paradigm, women in premenstrual phase of their menstrual cycles were compared with a control group of women at other points in their cycles except within seven days before menstruation. Electric shock and pictures of natural scenes were used as UCS and CS respectively. Premenstrual women showed an enhanced susceptibility to the acquisition of a conditioned skin conductance response and to delayed extinction, while control women did not. The possible role of an altered physiological state during the premenstrual phase in the acquisition of fear responses is discussed.
月经周期引起的生理变化可能是恐惧在两性之间分布不均的原因。在一个差异经典条件作用范式中，将处于月经周期经前阶段的女性与处于月经周期其他阶段（除月经前七天内）的女性对照组进行比较。分别使用电击和自然场景图片作为无条件刺激（UCS）和条件刺激（CS）。经前阶段的女性在获得条件性皮肤电导反应和延迟消退方面表现出更高的易感性，而对照组女性则没有。本文讨论了经前阶段生理状态改变在恐惧反应习得中的可能作用。
