title: The influence of sex hormones on functional cerebral asymmetries in postmenopausal women.
abstract: Studies investigating changes in functional cerebral asymmetries (FCAs) with hormonal fluctuations during the menstrual cycle in young women have led to controversial hypotheses about an influence of estrogen (E) and/or progesterone (P) on FCAs. Based on methodical, but also on principal problems in deriving conclusions about hormone effects from correlational designs, the present study investigated hemispheric asymmetries in postmenopausal women, who received hormone replacement either with E alone (E group, n=32), an E-P combination (E-P group, n=29) or no hormone substitution (control group, n=31). Speed and accuracy of responses to a word- and a face decision task, both presented laterally by means of the visual half field technique, were assessed. The control group showed the typical pattern of hemispheric asymmetry with more correct responses to verbal stimuli presented in the right visual field (RVF) and to face stimuli presented in the left visual field (LVF). A hormone-effect was demonstrable only for the verbal task, in which the E group showed an enhanced performance of the right hemisphere (LVF). The E-P group showed no significant differences to the control group or the E group. The results suggest a role of E in the modulation of FCAs at least with regard to verbal processing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Durham University, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bayer
authors.forename: Gisela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Erdmann
mesh_terms: D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002979:Climacteric / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D003657:Decision Making / Q000187:drug effects; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D015914:Estrogen Replacement Therapy; D004967:Estrogens / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000187:drug effects; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000187:drug effects; D011374:Progesterone / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects; D012660:Semantics
chemical_list: D004967:Estrogens; D011374:Progesterone