The impact of polycystic ovary syndrome on attention: an empirical investigation.

Abstract

Background: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrinal dysfunction characterized by androgen excess, irregular or absent menstruation, and polycystic ovarian morphology. While extensive research is conducted on the biochemical and medical ramifications of PCOS. However, there is not much research on cognitive mechanisms, especially attention. Attention is the fundamental cognitive ability that influences other cognitive and psychological phenomena. Therefore, the present study attempts to investigate the effect of PCOS on attention.

Methods: Flanker's task examining focussed attention and Posner's cueing task measuring divided attention was administered to 173 female participants, of which 101 constituted the PCOS group and the remaining were control. The Analysis of Variance was used to analyze the data.

Results: These findings demonstrated that the PCOS group took longer in focused attention, 557.21 milliseconds (SD = 169.70), compared to the reaction time of 462.88 milliseconds (SD = 120.80) in divided attention. Concerning accuracy, the PCOS group made more errors in the focused attention task at 0.98 (SD = 0.41), while for the divided attention task, it was 0.99 (SD = 0.27).

Conclusions: Women with PCOS showed more error and slower reaction time in focused attention.