Pregnant women able to better distinguish emotions in others

Pregnant women may be better at reading the emotions on people’s faces, especially late in the pregnancy.

While hormonal changes and mood swings often occur during pregnancy, new research reveals that women may also have the ability to better read the emotions on others faces while pregnant.

Researchers at the University of Bristol in the U.K. asked 76 women in the early stages of pregnancy to identify the emotion on 60 computer-generated faces. The process was repeated later in the pregnancy, around week 34.

Researchers conducting the study, published in the journal Hormones and Behavior found that during both the early and late stages of pregnancy, women were equally able to identify faces showing happiness and surprise. Yet women were more sensitive to and accurate at gauging emotions like fear, anger and disgust later in pregnancy.

By Shawn Douglas Copyright © 2006-2009

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