Neuropsychological Approach to Working Memory in Menopausal Status

Introduction: Multidisciplinary studies involving hormones, neurons, behavioral and cognitive functions promote neurosciences. Estrogens located in the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex can affect working memory. Aim: Neuropsychological evaluation and comparison the efficiency in verbal and visual working memory in premenopausal, perimenopausal and postmenopausal stages. It was hypothesized the worst performance in verbal working memory in perimenopause stage, and the best competition in visual working memory in the postmenopausal stage. Method: Exploratory, non-experimental, cross-sectional study, with non-probability sampling. 59 healthy women from the general population. Study clinical, mental health and working memory. Results: There was no significant difference in verbal working memory. In visual working memory there was significant and relevant difference (.2R =.23, p =.001 y.2R =.12, p =.047) in the subtest involves visual construction; unlike the multiple-choice subtest there was no significant difference, finding the worst performance in perimenopause. Conclusions: Working memory is dissociated, verbal working memory observed performance based on reproductive aging and visual working memory supports the participation of hormonal fluctuations. It is considered a sensitive measure to detect cognitive failures early, which could be associated with neurodegenerative diseases in the aging. When evaluating middle-aged women, it is important to consider the stage of menopausal status that is transiting, due to the possible comorbidity in the CNS.