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Steroid Hormones and Neuropsychological Functions: Role of Estrogen in Working Memory
No full textPrevious researches evidenced the estrogen role on neuropsychological functions. We evaluated the performance of young women in a Delayed-Matching-to-Sample working memory task for emotional facial expressions, during the menstrual cycle. Our results suggest that estrogen exerts a negative modulator effect on working memory, which is specific for selective facial expression
Role of Sex Steroid Estrogen Across the Estrous Cycle on Working and Reference Memory in the Rats
No full textSex-related memory recall and talkativeness for emotional stimuli
No full textRecent studies have evidenced an increasing interest in sex-related brain mechanisms and cerebral lateralization subserving emotional memory, language processing, and conversational behavior. We used event-related-potentials (ERP) to examine the influence of sex and
hemisphere on brain responses to emotional stimuli. Given that the P300 component of ERP is considered a cognitive neuroelectric phenomenon, we compared left and right hemisphere P300 responses to emotional stimuli in men and women. As indexed by both amplitude and latency measures, emotional stimuli elicited more robust P300 effects in the left hemisphere in women than in men, while a stronger P300 component was elicited in the right hemisphere in men compared to women. Our findings show that the variables of sex and hemisphere interacted significantly to influence the strength of the P300 component to the emotional stimuli. Emotional stimuli were also best recalled when given a long-term, incidental memory test, a fact potentially related to the differential P300 waves at encoding. Moreover, taking into account the sex-related differences in language processing and conversational behavior, in the present study we evaluated possible talkativeness differences between the two genders in the recollection of emotional stimuli. Our data showed that women used a higher number of words, compared to men, to describe both arousal and neutral stories. Moreover, the present results support the view that sex differences in lateralization may not be a general feature of language processing but may be related to the specific condition, such as the emotional content of stimuli
Sex-related talkativeness and emotional memory
No full textEmotionally arousing events are more likely to be recalled compared to non-arousing events. Moreover, recent studies have begun to reveal seemingly large, but previously unsuspected, sex-related influences on this mechanism, and sex differences in cognition are consistently reported. Sex-related differences in language processing are well known from everyday life, as well as from the scientific literature. Our previous studies indicated that both sex and cerebral hemisphere constitute important interacting influences on neural correlates of emotion and emotional memory. Moreover, many data evidenced sex-related differences in language processing and conversational behaviour. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate possible talkativeness differences between the two sexes in the recollection of emotional stimuli, recording the number of words that men and women use when they are submitted to a declarative memory test, using two kinds of emotional stimuli: the International Affective Picture System (IAPS), a set of calibrated picture stimuli, and an Italian adaptation of two versions of a story, differing for their arousal characteristics (neutral and emotional), both widely used for investigating emotion and emotional memory. The evaluation of the number of words, utilized by men and women during the free recall of both kind of stimuli, showed that women used always an higher number of words compared to men. In conclusion, according to previous studies indicating that men and women process emotional stimuli differently, our findings suggest the existence of gender-related neural responses to emotional stimuli and could also contribute to the understanding of mechanisms underlying the gender disparity of neuropsychiatric diseases, such as mood disorders
The role of endogenous fluctuations of estrogen on working and reference memory across the estrous cycle of female rat
No full textThe results of many studies conducted over the past two decades suggest a role for estrogen in
mammals'ability to learn and remember. In the present paper we analyzed the influence that the
endogenous fluctuation of estrogen, naturally present across the different phases of the estrous cycle
of female rats, can exert over the performance of tasks utilized to asses memory. In particular, we
analyzed the performances in an eight arm radial maze task, dependent upon working memory, and
in a water maze task, dependent upon spatial reference memory. The WM is aversively motivated by
the desire to escape onto a safe platform, whereas the RAM is motivated by food reward. The
difference in reinforcement may affect the speed of learning, the strategy adopted and the necessity
for accurate navigation. Therefore, coherent results obtained through the two different tasks can be
due to mnemonic factors.
The study was conducted during a long period of time, 14 months, utilizing gonadally intact females,
without pharmacological and surgical treatments. In order to evaluate the post-acquisition phase we
first trained the animals to reach the criterion in performing tasks, and then we submitted them to
experimental phase. Our results show that estrogen can have an effect on memory processes, and
that this effect may be different in relation to different kinds of memory. In fact, in our study, estrogen
selectively improved working memory, but not reference memory, during post-acquisition
performance of a radial maze task with four baited and four un-baited arms. Moreover, water maze
performances showed that estrogen has a negative effect on spatial reference memory
Physiological relevance of estrogen effect on memory across the estrous cycle in the rat
No full textEstrogen and cognitive functions
No full textAlthough estrogen’s effects on sex behavior in mammals are well known, its role on other behaviors, including cognition, have only recently been recognized. This review summarizes work conducted in our laboratory and others toward identifying estrogen’s actions on cognitive functions. The first section will briefly describe the neurobiology of estrogen The second section will discuss estrogen’s effects on cognitive behaviors in mammals, as well as the physiological relevance of these effects and their applicability to human health and disease. The third section will detail the role of estrogen on working memory in humans and non human primates, and in rodents. Finally, the concluding section will briefly describe the relations between estrogen and the aging brain
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