Progesterone-associated increase in ERP amplitude correlates with an improvement in performance in a spatial attention paradigm

Ovarian sex hormones modulate neuronal circuits not directly involved in reproductive functions. In the present study, we investigated whether endogenous fluctuations of estradiol and progesterone during the menstrual cycle are associated with early cortical processing stages in a cued spatial attention paradigm. EEG was monitored while young women responded to acoustically cued visual stimuli. Women with large mean amplitude of the event-related potential (ERP) (80–120 ms following visual stimuli) responded faster to visual stimuli. In luteal women, mean amplitude of the ERP as well as alpha amplitude, an indicator of attentional modulation, correlated positively with progesterone. Further, cerebral asymmetry in ERP amplitude in the alpha frequency band following target presentation was restricted to luteal women. Critically, early follicular women responded slower to right hemifield compared to left hemifield targets. In late follicular or luteal women, we did not detect a right hemifield disadvantage. Progesterone correlated negatively with RTs in luteal women. Therefore, whereas our behavioral data indicate a functional cerebral asymmetry in early follicular women, EEG recording reveal a physiological cerebral hemisphere asymmetry in the alpha frequency band in luteal women. We assume that a progesterone-associated enhancement in synchronization of synaptic activity in the alpha frequency band in luteal women improves early categorization of visual targets in a cued spatial attention paradigm.