Pms: Cyclical variation in attentional capacity with Pms and non-Pms women

The increasing need for women to have an expanded role in decision making capacities and in professional areas raises persistent questions concerning the effect of menstrual cycle fluctuations on performance, specifically, cognitive/intellectual functioning. A wide variety of recurring cyclical and emotional symptoms have been reported as common to women suffering from premenstrual syndrome (PMS). This study examined possible impairment of cognitive functioning during the PMS phase of the menstrual cycle using PMS and Non-PMS women. The two groups were compared over three menstrual cycles on a digit span task, a letter detection task, and a combination of the two. PMS sufferers were as accurate as Non-PMS women and did not exhibit performance deficits in the PMS phase of their cycle. However, the PMS subjects took longer on the letter detection task regardless of phase. The findings suggest that PMS women are not at a disadvantage during the PMS phase of their cycle and perform as accurately as Non-PMS women on specific cognitive tasks.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Year

1988

Author dc:creator

• Greenstein, Francine Linda

Contributors dc:contributor

• P. Diane Turnbough

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/rtds/53

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:oasis.library.unlv.edu:rtds-1052