
Simple and Discriminatory Reaction Times in Preovulatory and Postovulatory Phases of Menstrual Cycle in Healthy Young Females: A Cross-sectional Study
Correspondence Address :
Dr. Amudharaj Dharmalingam,
Additional Professor, Department of Physiology, AIIMS Mangalagiri, Mangalagiri-522503, Andhra Pradesh, India.
E-mail: rajraj19831@gmail.com
Introduction: The menstrual cycle plays a significant role in the functioning of the cardiovascular and central nervous systems. Cognitive processing is affected differently during the various phases of the menstrual cycle, in addition to emotional processing. Cognitive domains such as attention, awareness, and memory show variations across the phases of the menstrual cycle. However, considerable conflicts exist in the scientific literature regarding the changes in these parameters during the menstrual cycle. Reaction times have been established as an objective measurement of cognitive processing in humans.
Aim: To observe and compare simple and discriminatory visual and auditory reaction times in healthy adult females in the pre and postovulatory phases of their menstrual cycles.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted in the southern part of India during the years 2018-2024. Interested volunteers were questioned regarding their menstrual history to rule out any abnormalities. Healthy young adult females were included in the study after obtaining their informed consent in writing. Preovulatory reaction times were measured on the 10th or 11th day, while postovulatory reaction times were measured on the 20th or 21st day of the menstrual cycle. Simple and discriminatory visual and auditory reaction times were measured in triplicate at a resolution of one millisecond, with the minimum value included for analysis. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to analyse the normality of the distribution, and the Wilcoxon signed-rank sum test was used to test the significance of the difference in medians of the paired samples. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0 was employed for the analysis.
Results: Simple Visual Reaction Times (SVRT) significantly differed between the pre and postovulatory phases (p-value 0.048). Simple Auditory Reaction Times (SART) also significantly differed between the pre and postovulatory phases (p-value 0.003). Discriminatory Visual Reaction Times (DVRT) and Discriminatory Auditory Reaction Times (DART) did not statistically differ between the pre and postovulatory phases (p-value=0.938, p-value=0.076, respectively).
Conclusion: Simple visual and auditory reaction times were significantly prolonged in the postovulatory phases.
Attention, Cognition, Simple auditory reaction times, Simple visual reaction times
DOI: 10.7860/JCDR/2025/77310.21086
Date of Submission: Jan 20, 2025
Date of Peer Review: Feb 24, 2025
Date of Acceptance: May 02, 2025
Date of Publishing: Jun 01, 2025
AUTHOR DECLARATION:
• Financial or Other Competing Interests: None
• Was Ethics Committee Approval obtained for this study? Yes
• Was informed consent obtained from the subjects involved in the study? Yes
• For any images presented appropriate consent has been obtained from the subjects. NA
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