Millions of women use hormonal contraceptives, most often for pregnancy prevention but also to manage health conditions such as endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome. A new study from Rice University suggests these medications may affect more than reproductive health.

Published in Hormones and Behavior, the study, “Emotion regulation strategies differentially impact memory in hormonal contraceptive users,” found that hormonal contraceptives appear to shape how women experience emotions in the moment and how they remember emotional events later.

Lead author Beatriz M. Brandao, a graduate student in Rice’s Department of Psychological Sciences, and her collaborators compared women on hormonal contraceptives with naturally cycling women as they viewed emotional images and used strategies to regulate their feelings. Women using hormonal contraceptives showed stronger emotional reactions overall, but remembered fewer details of negative experiences — a pattern researchers say could help women move on from unpleasant events rather than replay them.

The findings add nuance to ongoing questions about how birth control affects not only the body but also the mind, with implications for mental health and women’s health research.

Cornell researchers have uncovered the genetic triggers that cause male and female bovine embryos to develop differently, as early as seven to eight days after fertilization. The breakthrough in basic science has implications for human health – such as drug development and in vitro fertilization – and for bovine health and dairy industry sustainability.