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Are any kinds of behavior proved to correlate with estrogen levels? Any studies done on this? Any indications of such correlations?
Various research has shown correlations with testosterone and behavior, and I suppose there should be something for estrogen as well: Are any kinds of behavior proved to correlate with testosterone levels?
Ehrhardt, A.A. (1978) states that
A review of the behavioral effects of estrogen has to be divided on the basis of different time periods. During the critical phase of brain differentiation (which is species specific and takes place either before birth or neonatally), various sex hormones have long-term and permanent effects on behavior. Therefore, their action has been termed developmental or organizational. In contrast, hormones in adulthood, after the critical phase has passed, affect reversible changes in behavior and have been called activational.
An article in the Scientific American links to other several studies including Smith, C.T., et al. (2014) revealing that
greater increases in estrogen levels across the menstrual cycle led to less impulsive decision making.
whilst Kritzer, M.F. and Kohama, S.G. (1999) states that
estrogen increased dopamine innervation in the primate prefrontal cortex.
Ehrhardt, A. A. (1978). Behavioral Effects of Estrogen in the Human Female In: Pediatrics, 62(6);
PMID: 724354
Kritzer, M.F. and Kohama, S.G. (1999). Ovarian hormones differentially influence immunoreactivity for dopamine beta- hydroxylase, choline acetyltransferase, and serotonin in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of adult rhesus monkeys In: The Journal of Comparitive Neurology, 409(3): pp 438-51;
PMID: 10379829 DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-9861(19990705)409:3<438::AID-CNE8>3.0.CO;2-5
Smith, C. T., Sierra, Y., Oppler, S. H., & Boettiger, C. A. (2014). Ovarian Cycle Effects on Immediate Reward Selection Bias in Humans: A Role for Estradiol In: Journal of Neuroscience, 34(16): pp 5468-5476; DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0014-14.2014
