Araceli Sanz-Martin

Effects of alcohol on the performance of the Tower of London task in relation to the menstrual cycle: An electroencephalographic study.

It is well known that the metabolism of alcohol and cognitive functions can vary during the menstrual cycle. Also, both alcohol ingestion and hormonal variations during menstruation have been associated with characteristic changes in electroencephalographic (EEG) activity. The aim of the present study was to determine whether EEG activity during the performance of the Tower of London (TOL) task is affected by previous ingestion of alcohol and whether these EEG patterns vary in relation to different phases of the menstrual cycle. For this purpose, female participants consumed a moderate dose of alcohol or placebo during the follicular and early luteal phases of the menstrual cycle and then, 35 min after liquid ingestion, EEG activity was recorded during the performance of TOL. A deleterious effect of alcohol on TOL performance was potentiated in the follicular phase, related to a higher &agr;1 relative power, probably as a result of the low progesterone levels characteristic of this menstrual phase. These data show the feasibility of examining the interaction of alcohol and menstrual cycle phases on cognitive performance by means of EEG recording, and contribute toward a better understanding of the brain mechanisms that underlie the cognitive changes that occur during the menstrual cycle under the effects of alcohol.

Effect of Sexual Arousal on Cortical Coupling During Performance of the Tower of Hanoi Task in Young Men

Sexual arousal affects cognitive processing, which depends on the coordinated functioning among cortical areas. The aim of this research was to determine whether previous observation of videos with sexual content affects the degree of cortical electroencephalographic (EEG) coupling during performance of an executive task. Cortical EEG correlations were calculated in three groups of heterosexual men under three conditions: at rest; during observation of a video with neutral, aggressive, or erotic content; and while performing the Tower of Hanoi task (TOH). Based on self-reports, it was shown that the erotic video induced general and sexual arousal, while the aggressive video affected valence and general arousal. Task performance was similar in all three groups. During performance of TOH, only the erotic group showed a decreased correlation between prefrontal areas with an increased correlation between parietal and prefrontotemporal areas, specifically in the slow bands. It is likely that these changes in the degree of cortical coupling could be associated with the cognitive strategies or functional adaptations that participants require to adequately solve the task during a state of sexual arousal. These data could contribute to improving our understanding of the central nervous mechanisms that underlie the effect of sexual arousal on the cognitive processes involved in tasks like TOH.