No difference in cognitive performance between phases of the menstrual cycle

No differences were seen in performance on either verbosequential or visuospatial neuropsychological tests among three groups of women. There were also no differences among the phases of the menstrual cycle on any of the tests. The design of this study was to sample performance of women on verbosequential and visuospatial neuropsychological tests during phases of the normal menstrual cycle in regularly menstruating women, and at comparable time points among women taking oral contraceptives and among those who had amenorrhea. Serum luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), estradiol, and progesterone were assayed to document these hormone levels at each time point for each group. These data are consistent with previous results in our laboratory but conflict with other reports in which shifts in cognitive function were related to fluctuations in estrogen. The only indications of positive results were weak correlations with gonadotropins and cognitive function across subjects. While some of these correlations replicated previous results, they were weak and should be considered with caution.