Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5938-6815

Date Available

12-5-2024

Year of Publication

2024

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

College

Arts and Sciences

Department/School/Program

Psychology

Advisor

Mark T. Fillmore, Ph.D.

Abstract

Behavioral endocrinology studies in women suggest that higher circulating levels of the ovarian sex hormone estradiol (E2) may be linked to better working memory performance, especially under conditions of cognitive impairment (e.g., age-related cognitive decline). Phases of the menstrual cycle characterized by different levels of E2 may therefore influence the degree to which women are vulnerable to alcohol impairment of working memory. The current thesis used a within-subjects design to test the hypothesis that women are less sensitive to acute alcohol-induced impairment of working memory when E2 is elevated during the menstrual cycle. A sample of 75 premenopausal women completed two placebo-controlled alcohol administration sessions at two hormonally distinct phases of the menstrual cycle: the early follicular phase (i.e., near menses) when E2 was low, and the late follicular phase (i.e., near ovulation) when E2 was high. At both sessions, participants completed an N-Back visual letter task of working memory first following placebo, then again 60 min after consuming a controlled dose of 0.6 g/kg alcohol. Results indicated that working memory performance was impaired under alcohol relative to placebo at both the early and late follicular phases of the menstrual cycle. However, as predicted, the magnitude of this impairment was significantly less pronounced during the late versus early follicular phase. Considered in the context of the broader literature, these findings provide novel evidence to suggest that specific phases of the menstrual cycle may differentially affect women’s sensitivity to the acute effects of alcohol on particular cognitive functions.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2024.437

Funding Information

This research was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism grants R01 AA027990 awarded to Dr. Mark Fillmore in 2021 and T32 AA027488 awarded to Dr. Mark Fillmore and Dr. Mark Prendergast in 2024.

Download

Share

COinS