A study of women playing an imaginary slot machine game brain responses changed in anticipation of a payout depending on the phases of their menstrual cycles....
Berman, working with Dr. Jean-Claude Dreher of France’s national scientific research center CNRS and colleagues, used functional magnetic resonance imaging or fMRI to get real-time images of the brain activity of 15 women.
The women played a hypothetical slot machine game, with payouts of $10 or $20.
Different areas of the brain lit up in anticipation of a payout — a reward — depending on the menstrual cycle phase. For instance, during the midfollicular phase, which comes four to eight days after menstrual bleeding starts, the orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala of the brain were more active.