Scientists Say Pregnancy Doesn't Affect Memory
CANBERRA, May 22 (Reuters) - The age-old notion that women lose their memory and concentration during pregnancy has been exposed as a myth by a new Australian study.
Scientists at the Australian National University in Canberra found many pregnant women out-performed non-pregnant peers on some memory tests, according to the research published in the latest edition of the university's newspaper.
"Overall our results indicated there was no difference between pregnant and non-pregnant women and in fact there was evidence that they perform better if you give them information on their current interest," said research team leader, Dr Helen Christensen. "But interestingly both the pregnant women and their partners rated them as poor on memory."
Researchers from the university's Mental Health Research Centre pitted 52 women who were pregnant for the first time against 35 non-pregnant women in a objective word memory test. The candidates were screened for depression or anxiety which could have skewed the results.
A follow-up test found similar results when assessing reaction time, recall and recognition as well as working memory, the sort of memory used when doing more than one task at a time.
Christensen said the results were encouraging for women. "I think it's good news for women because if you're in a situation where you need to be vigilant, such as work, you can perform as well, if not better, than women who are not pregnant," she said.
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