ABSTRACT
Anxiety and depression, in clinical case studies and in experiments unrelated to the menstrual cycle, have been shown to affect cognition. These findings have led to a number of studies attempting to link cognitive deficits to the premenstrual phase of the menstrual cycle. This chapter presents a study that was designed to investigate the following questions: Are there significant menstrual cycle phase differences in the ability to think creatively? Are there significant differences between women’s and men’s ability to think creatively? Are androgynous subjects more creative than masculine and feminine subjects? No sex differences in creative thinking were found. Creative thinking scores were analyzed by menstrual cycle phase, and no significant differences were found. It is clear that premenstrual changes do not produce cognitive deficits, or, if they do, the deficits are so minor that an extra “push” is all that is needed to compensate.
