Award Date

1-1-1988

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

First Committee Member

P. Diane Turnbough

Number of Pages

38

Abstract

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.

Keywords

Attentional; Capacity; Cyclical; Premenstraul syndome; PMS; Variation; Women

Controlled Subject

Clinical psychology

File Format

pdf

File Size

1116.16 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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