Intraindividual and interindividual variations in psychomotor task performance in spontaneously menstruating women

OBJECTIVE: To examine the variability in psychomotor task performance in women in reference to the menstrual cycle.

METHODS: One hundred and eighty young women with spontaneous regular menstrual period of 30 days duration and 20 young men were assessed in the Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Al-Mustansiriya University, Baghdad, Iraq during 2003.

RESULTS: Women had significantly lower recognition as well as motor reaction time than men with wide inter and intraindividual variations. Women also had a lower critical flicker fusion frequency threshold than men with more variation. The changes in psychomotor performance are not specific for a certain phase of the menstrual cycle.

CONCLUSION: Spontaneously menstruating young women are not good participants for psychomotor performance studies because of wide intra- and interindividual variations.