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Women using hormonal contraceptives show increased valence ratings and memory performance for emotional information.

ABSTRACT: Perception of emotional valence and emotional memory performance vary across the menstrual cycle. However, the consequences of altered ovarian hormone levels due to the intake of hormonal contraceptives on these emotional and cognitive processes remain to be established. In the present study, which included 2169 healthy young females, we show that hormonal contraceptives (HC) users rated emotional pictures as more emotional than HC-non-users and outperformed non-users in terms of better memory recall of emotional pictures. The observed association between HC-status and memory performance was partially mediated by the perception of emotional picture valence, indicating that increased valence ratings of emotional pictures in HC-users led to their better emotional memory performance. These findings extend the knowledge about the relation of HC-intake with emotional valence perception and emotional memory performance. Further, the findings might stimulate further research investigating the interrelation of enhanced memory for emotional events and the increased risk for anxiety-related psychiatric disorders in women.

SUBMITTER: Spalek K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6784990 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Women using hormonal contraceptives show increased valence ratings and memory performance for emotional information.

Spalek Klara K Loos Eva E Schicktanz Nathalie N Hartmann Francina F de Quervain Dominique D Stier Christina C Milnik Annette A

Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology 20190305 7

Perception of emotional valence and emotional memory performance vary across the menstrual cycle. However, the consequences of altered ovarian hormone levels due to the intake of hormonal contraceptives on these emotional and cognitive processes remain to be established. In the present study, which included 2169 healthy young females, we show that hormonal contraceptives (HC) users rated emotional pictures as more emotional than HC-non-users and outperformed non-users in terms of better memory r ...[more]

PMID: 30836380

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Project description:BackgroundEmotional stimuli used as targets of working memory (WM) tasks can moderate age-related differences in WM performance, showing that aging is associated with reductions in negativity bias. This phenomenon is referred to as the positivity effect. However, there is little research on whether emotional distractors have a similar moderating effect. Moreover, the underlying neural mechanism of this effect has not been studied. In this study, we examined the behavioral and neurophysiological basis for age differences in resistance to emotional distractors within WM.MethodsOlder adults (n = 30, ages 60-74) and young adults (n = 35, ages 19-26) performed a 2-back task in which a digit was superimposed on a face with a happy, angry, or neutral expression as a distractor. Event-related potential (ERP) was simultaneously recorded to assess P2, N2, and later positive potential (LPP) amplitudes.ResultsOlder adults were less accurate and slower than young adults on the WM task. Moreover, the results demonstrated a significant interaction between age and emotional valence on response accuracy, young adults' performance was worse when the distractor was neutral or positive than when it was negative, but there was no effect of the emotional valence of distractors on older adults' WM performance. ERP analyses revealed greater P2 amplitude in older adults than young adults, regardless of the emotional valence of distractors. However, older adults and young adults did not differ on N2 or LPP amplitude, and negative distractors elicited greater N2 than positive distractors in both age groups.ConclusionsThe behavioral findings provided evidence of age-related reductions in negativity bias. Thus, the behavioral measures indicated a positivity effect in WM. However, the ERP results did not show this same interaction. These discrepant results raise questions about whether and to what extent older and young adults differ in controlling the effect of emotional distractors in WM.

Project description:Remembering places in which emotional events occur is essential for individual's survival. However, the mechanisms through which emotions modulate information processing in working memory, especially in the visuo-spatial domain, is little understood and controversial. The present research was aimed at investigating the effect of incidentally learned emotional stimuli on visuo-spatial working memory (VSWM) performance by using a modified version of the object-location task. Eight black rectangles appeared simultaneously on a computer screen; this was immediately followed by the sequential presentation of eight pictures (selected from IAPS) superimposed onto each rectangle. Pictures were selected considering the two main dimensions of emotions: valence and arousal. Immediately after presentation, participants had to relocate the rectangles in the original position as accurately as possible. In the first experiment arousal and valence were manipulated either as between-subject (Experiment 1A) or as within-subject factors (Experiment 1B and 1C). Results showed that negative pictures enhanced memory for object location only when they were presented with neutral ones within the same encoding trial. This enhancing effect of emotion on memory for object location was replicated also with positive pictures. In Experiment 2 the arousal level of negative pictures was manipulated between-subjects (high vs. low) while maintaining valence as a within-subject factor (negative vs. neutral). Objects associated with negative pictures were better relocated, independently of arousal. In Experiment 3 the role of emotional valence was further ascertained by manipulating valence as a within-subject factor (neutral vs. negative in Experiment 3A; neutral vs. positive in Experiment 3B) and maintaining similar levels of arousal among pictures. A significant effect of valence on memory for location was observed in both experiments. Finally, in Experiment 4, when positive and negative pictures were encoded in the same trial, no significant effect of valence on memory for object location was observed. Taken together results suggest that emotions enhance spatial memory performance when neutral and emotional stimuli compete with one another for access into the working memory system. In this competitive mechanism, an interplay between valence and arousal seems to be at work.

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Women using hormonal contraceptives show increased valence ratings and memory performance for emotional information.

Publications

Women using hormonal contraceptives show increased valence ratings and memory performance for emotional information.

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