The Menstrual Cycle and Habituation

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Abstract
Evidence is accumulating that links the menstrual cycle with fluctuations in social, physiological and psychological behavior. Women were studied over 2 consecutive menstrual cycles, at about 1 wk intervals. Of these women, 21 had spontaneous ovulatory menstrual cycles, 6 had anovulatory cycles and 7 were regular users of oral contraceptives. All cycles were converted to classic 28 day cycles. On each visit, a record was obtained of the subject''s galvanic skin responses (GSR) to 21 successive auditory stimuli. During ovulatory cycles, a marked change in the rate of habituation of the GSR occurred around day 14 and day 28. During days 1-14 the mean habituation point (number of GSR responses to sound before 3 successive nonresponses) was 12.4 SE 1.6. This dropped to 6.8 SE 1.6 during days 15-28. This change was not found for women on oral contraceptives, who showed consistent habituation rates throughout the cycle (mean habituation point 7.2 SE 1.1). Women with anovulatory cycles apparently differed from those with ovulatory cycles in that they did not show a change in their habituation point around midcycle.

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