The Influence Of Female Menstrual Cycle On Cooperative And Competitive Behavior

Cooperation and competition are the two most important social behaviors in human society.They are two different modes of interaction,but they also have the same parts.For example,in interpersonal interaction,they contain the same cognitive process,that is,executive function and mentality.Based on previous studies,this paper explores the relationship between female cooperative and competitive behavior and menstrual cycle,and then explores the role of cognitive executive function in it.Two experiments were carried out in this paper.In experiment 1,28 pairs of female subjects were recruited to explore the effects of different menstrual cycle phase(late follicular phase and luteal phase)on female cooperative and competitive behavior and brain synchronization.In experiment 2,64 women were recruited to further explore the effects of the two menstrual cycle phase on cooperative and competitive behaviors and their influencing mechanisms through prisoner dilemma task and reversal learning task.The results showed that female in luteal phase exhibited more cooperative behavior than those in late follicular phase,and showed more significant changes in brain synchronization and coherence in TPJ area.In competitive situation,female in luteal phase exhibited more competitive behavior and showed significant brain synchronization in PFC area.Female in luteal phase showed more adaptive behavior in prisoner's dilemma task.Female in the luteal phase have more cognitive flexibility.During luteal phase,female adjust their behavior flexibly with goal orientation in the process of social interaction,which has strong flexibility and adaptability.This study provides experimental evidence for the hypothesis of survival adaptability of female in luteal phase.On the other hand,it enriches the understanding of the influence of physiological factors on cooperation and competition.