Menstrual cycle hormone levels influence women’s attention to female faces, brain imaging study finds

A new brain imaging study has found that women’s attention and cognitive control can be influenced by hormonal fluctuations across the menstrual cycle. Specifically, during the mid-luteal phase—when progesterone levels are high—women showed enhanced accuracy and brain activation when completing tasks involving female faces, but not male faces. The findings, published in Physiology & Behavior, suggest that natural variations in ovarian hormones may help modulate cognitive flexibility depending on the social context.

The research was motivated by growing evidence that sex hormones, especially progesterone and estradiol, influence how the brain manages cognitive control. While many studies have shown how these hormones affect general cognitive functions like memory or attention, fewer have explored how they modulate attention in socially meaningful contexts. The researchers were particularly interested in whether women’s hormone levels would affect how they respond to faces of other women versus men, and whether these differences would be reflected in brain activity patterns in key control regions like the inferior frontal gyrus.

To explore these questions, the researchers recruited 53 naturally cycling women, aged around 21, who were not using hormonal birth control and had regular menstrual cycles. The participants were divided into two groups depending on their cycle phase: 28 were in the late follicular phase, when progesterone is relatively low, and 25 were in the mid-luteal phase, when progesterone is elevated. Saliva samples confirmed hormone levels, and each participant completed a face–gender Stroop task while undergoing a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan.

The Stroop task used in the experiment was designed to test how well participants could focus their attention when faced with conflicting information. They were shown images of neutral male and female faces with gender labels superimposed on them. Sometimes the label matched the face’s gender (congruent trials), and sometimes it did not (incongruent trials). Participants had to quickly and accurately identify the actual gender of the face while ignoring the misleading label.

Each participant completed multiple runs of this task during the scan. At the same time, resting-state brain data were also collected to examine the participants’ baseline brain network organization and activity, particularly in the executive control network, which includes the inferior frontal gyrus and other regions responsible for attention and cognitive control.

At the behavioral level, women in the mid-luteal phase—who had higher progesterone levels—were significantly more accurate at identifying female faces during the congruent trials compared to those in the late follicular phase. No such difference was observed when participants categorized male faces. Moreover, as progesterone levels increased, participants showed longer reaction times when identifying female faces, suggesting they were allocating more cognitive resources to those trials. In contrast, there was no such relationship for male face trials.

On the neural level, this enhanced attention to female faces during the mid-luteal phase was reflected in stronger activation of the inferior frontal gyrus, especially during the incongruent trials where participants had to suppress the misleading gender label. The brain region’s activation also correlated with progesterone levels—but not with estradiol levels—reinforcing the idea that progesterone plays a more prominent role in this effect.

Resting-state scans provided further support for the influence of progesterone on cognitive control networks. Participants in the mid-luteal phase had greater “betweenness centrality” in the left inferior frontal gyrus, meaning this brain region played a more central role in facilitating information flow across the network when the brain was at rest. Progesterone levels were positively correlated with this network property, indicating that even in a resting state, hormone levels shape the brain’s readiness for cognitive control.

Additional analyses confirmed that progesterone influenced attention through its effects on brain activation. A mediation analysis showed that higher progesterone levels led to increased activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus, which in turn was associated with longer reaction times on trials with female faces. These longer reaction times are interpreted not as signs of delay, but as evidence of increased cognitive engagement and effortful processing.

Interestingly, these hormone-linked differences were specific to the social context. The face–gender Stroop task engaged both cognitive and social systems, and the results suggest that during the mid-luteal phase, women may prioritize attention toward female social cues—potentially as a reflection of underlying motivations for social support. This interpretation aligns with theories from evolutionary psychology that propose women may show a greater interest in same-gender cooperation during periods of heightened progesterone, such as in preparation for potential caregiving roles.

Using multivariate pattern analysis of the brain scans, the researchers further found that the inferior frontal gyrus could better distinguish between congruent and incongruent trials involving female faces during the mid-luteal phase. This suggests that the brain’s ability to differentiate between high and low control demands was heightened for socially relevant female stimuli when progesterone was elevated.

While the findings provide novel insights into how natural hormonal shifts influence attention and brain function in a socially specific way, the authors acknowledged several limitations. One is the between-subjects design: each participant was tested in only one menstrual phase. While hormone tracking was used to validate the cycle phase, hormone levels can vary considerably even within the same person across cycles. Future studies could use a within-subject design, testing the same individuals at different times in their cycle to strengthen causal claims.

Another limitation is the use of self-report and calendar-based methods to estimate ovulation. Though hormone assays confirmed differences in progesterone levels, more precise methods like ovulation kits or continuous temperature tracking could enhance reliability. The researchers also noted that while they discussed the findings in light of theories about social motivation and same-gender cooperation, the experimental task did not directly test cooperative behavior. More research is needed to link hormonal influences on attention with actual prosocial or affiliative behavior.

The study, “Ovarian hormone effects on cognitive flexibility in social contexts: Evidence from resting-state and task-based fMRI,” ws authored by Jia-Xi Wang, Lulu Fu, Qin Lei, and Jin-Ying Zhuang.