Does the interplay of emotion-related personality traits and reproductive hormones predict individual variation in emotion recognition?

Abstract

Person-related variation has been identified in many socio-cognitive domains, and there is evidence for links between certain personality traits and individual emotion recognition. Some studies, utilizing the menstrual cycle as a hormonal model, attempted to demonstrate that hormonal fluctuations could predict variations in emotion recognition, but with merely inconsistent findings. Remarkably, the interplay between hormone fluctuations and other person-related factors that could potentially influence emotion recognition remains understudied. In the current study, we examined if the interactions of emotion-related personality traits, namely openness, extraversion, and neuroticism, and the ovulatory cycle predict individual variation in facial emotion recognition in healthy naturally cycling women. We collected salivary ovarian hormones measures from N = 129 (n = 72 validated via LH test) women across their late follicular and mid-luteal phases of the ovulatory cycle. The results revealed a negative association between neuroticism scores and emotion recognition when progesterone levels (within-subject) were elevated. However, the results did not indicate a significant moderating influence of neuroticism, openness, and extraversion on emotion recognition across phases (late follicular vs. mid-luteal) of the menstrual cycle. Additionally, there was no significant interaction between openness or extraversion and ovarian hormone levels in predicting facial emotion recognition. The current study suggests future lines of research to compare these findings in a clinical setting, as both neuroticism and ovarian hormone dysregulation are associated with some psychiatric disorders such as premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).