Oral contraceptive formulation and socio-cognitive performance: a short communication

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Endocrinology

Background:

• Oral contraceptives (OCs) vary in ethinyl estradiol (EE) dose and progestin type, potentially affecting cognitive and emotional abilities.
• The specific impact of EE dose and progestin androgenicity on these abilities remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the cognitive and emotional effects of different oral contraceptive formulations.
• To compare the effects of low vs. high EE doses and androgenic vs. anti-androgenic progestins.

Main Methods:

• Online between-subjects experimental design with 96 participants categorized into four OC groups.
• Assessment of cognitive function using the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status.
• Evaluation of emotional processing and affect using emotion recognition tasks, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and rejection sensitivity measures.

Main Results:

• Participants using anti-androgenic OCs reported higher intensity ratings for emotional faces.
• Anti-androgenic OC users exhibited heightened insecurity after social stressors (Cyberball task).
• No significant differences were found in overall positive/negative affect or objective cognitive performance across OC formulations.

Conclusions:

• OC formulations with anti-androgenic progestins are linked to increased perceived emotional intensity and rejection sensitivity.
• Despite subtle emotional processing differences, OC formulation did not significantly alter overall affect or cognitive performance.