Working memory in pregnant women: Relation to estrogen and antepartum depression
Section snippets
Participants
Participants consisted of 28 pregnant women (Preg, n = 28) tested in the third trimester of pregnancy, and two groups of age- and education-matched controls (see Table 1). One control group consisted of non-pregnant nulliparous women (NonPreg, n = 26) and was used to establish whether any reduction in WM could be identified in the pregnant group. To further probe for any evidence of impairment, we recruited a second control group made up of age- and education-matched postpartum controls (PostPart, n
Results
The total number of WM errors produced on the SPWM and the SOP was well-correlated (r = .58, p < .001), consistent with their shared working memory demands. ANOVAs revealed a parallel pattern of group differences on the 2 tasks, as described below.
Discussion
In keeping with the possibility that WM is disrupted during the second or third trimesters of pregnancy, we found a medium to large effect (Cohen's d) on tests of WM but not on a test of explicit memory in pregnant women. The effect was seen only in women exhibiting antepartum depression. Specifically, significantly diminished WM was evident in the Preg + group relative to pregnant women tested at a matched point in gestation who were not depressed (Preg −) and relative to non-pregnant controls
Conclusions
Our data suggest that memory disturbance during gestation (GMI) does occur in certain women, but is not a feature of all pregnancies. We identify depression in the antepartum period as a potential risk factor for GMI. We found an effect in the domain of WM, but whether or not there is any adverse effect of pregnancy on explicit memory, and under what conditions, remains an unresolved question. Not all women showed reduced memory. To the contrary, a high level of WM proficiency was detected in
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by a pilot grant from the Society for Women's Health Research through its Isis Fund Network (EH, WS, MS) and by a grant to the first author from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (RGPIN 138017-2009) and to author WS from the National Institutes of Health (U01 GM092655). EH held a Chair in Women's Health from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Ontario Women's Health Council. We thank M. Coote for her assistance with the
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2022, Neurobiology of DiseasePregnancy-related hormones and COMT genotype: Associations with maternal working memory
2021, PsychoneuroendocrinologyCitation Excerpt :Some but not all studies found that cortisol – which also shows increased concentrations during pregnancy – seems to impair prefrontal cortex (PFC) functioning, consequently disrupting working memory (Heffelfinger and Newcomer, 2001; Hoffman and Al'Absi, 2004; Lupien et al., 1994). Although previous studies suggest that certain hormones may modulate working memory in humans, these hormone-behavior links have not been extensively studied in pregnancy (Brown and Schaffir, 2019; Henry and Sherwin, 2012), with the small number of studies yielding heterogeneous findings (Buckwalter et al., 1999; Glynn, 2010; Hampson et al., 2015). Genetic variation is another likely source of differences in response to hormonal alterations in pregnancy, and a focus on catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is particularly relevant for research on working memory.
Cognitive function in association with high estradiol levels resulting from fertility treatment
2021, Hormones and BehaviorCitation Excerpt :However, other results indicate only a small or neglible effect of E2 on cognitive function. When compared to non-pregnant women, pregnant women show estrogen-related differences only in working memory but no significant differences in other cognitive functions, i.e. memory, attention and object recognition processes (Hampson et al., 2015). Menopausal status (early and late menopausal transition and early and late postmenopause) was not related to significant differences in episodic verbal memory measured by a supraspan word list recall task (Henderson et al., 2003).
The long and short term effects of motherhood on the brain
2019, Frontiers in NeuroendocrinologyPregnancy-related anxiety and depressive symptoms are associated with visuospatial working memory errors during pregnancy
2017, Journal of Affective DisordersCitation Excerpt :However, the impact of prenatal psychiatric symptoms on maternal cognitive functioning is not established (e.g. Buckwalter et al., 1999; Farrar et al., 2014). Recently, it was shown that among pregnant women a deficit in visual working memory and EFs, was related to depressive affect, not to pregnancy in itself (Hampson et al., 2015). Our study, with a larger sample, gives support for the finding of Hampson et al. (2015) that not all women suffer from cognitive, more specifically memory disruptions during pregnancy.
Why estrogens matter for behavior and brain health
2017, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral ReviewsCitation Excerpt :Collaborative work by Hampson and colleagues has found a candidate genetic polymorphism in ESR1 (the gene coding for ERα) that was linked statistically to the occurrence of postpartum depression (Pinsonneault et al., 2013; see also Costas et al., 2010) and a possible interaction with the serotonin transporter was identified (Pinsonneault et al., 2013). Hampson et al. also found lower serum estradiol (but increased cortisol) in women suffering from antepartum depression during pregnancy compared with healthy controls assessed at the same gestational timepoint (Hampson et al., 2015). Emerging animal data supports the idea that steroids may play a role in postpartum depression (for a review see Brummelte and Galea, 2016).