{
  "id": 16073758,
  "title": "Higher progesterone is linked to blurrier brain signals for emotional control, study finds",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/22/higher-progesterone-is-linked-to-blurrier-brain-signals-for-emotional",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-22T16:00:22.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "PsyPost",
    "slug": "psypost",
    "url": "https://www.psypost.org/higher-progesterone-is-linked-to-blurrier-brain-signals-for-emotional-control-study-finds/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A recent study published in Psychological Medicine reveals that women with higher natural levels of progesterone may experience less distinct brain activity patterns when attempting to control their emotional impulses. This suggests that progesterone may obscure neural signals responsible for regulating emotional actions. The research, led by Macià Buades-Rotger of the University of Barcelona, focused on the lateral frontal pole, a brain region crucial for overriding automatic impulses during emotional decision-making. When this area fails to effectively guide behavior, individuals struggle with emotional regulation, as demonstrated by a 2023 study on highly anxious individuals. The study involved 110 healthy women aged 18 to 35, who provided saliva samples to measure estradiol and progesterone levels before undergoing a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task. Participants completed an approach-avoidance task, viewing photos of happy or angry faces and being instructed to either approach or avoid the faces, sometimes against their natural tendencies. The findings indicate that overriding automatic emotional tendencies is more challenging for women with higher progesterone levels, resulting in slower reaction times and higher error rates when required to act against their instincts.",
  "summary": "Women with higher natural progesterone levels showed less distinct brain activity patterns when overriding automatic emotional impulses, according to a neuroimaging study of 116 young women. Estradiol, the other major ovarian hormone, showed no such link.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}