Psychological characteristics and structural brain changes in women with endometriosis and endometriosis-independent chronic pelvic pain.

Study Question: Are there neurobiological changes induced by endometriosis?

Summary Answer: Women with endometriosis demonstrate specific neurobiological changes distinct from those in patients with chronic pelvic pain (CPP) in the absence of endometriosis.

What Is Known Already: Endometriosis is a chronic disease affecting women of reproductive age that presents with pain and infertility often accompanied by comorbid mental disorders. Only one study with a number of limitations has investigated changes in gray matter volumes and functional connectivity in a small group of patients with endometriosis.

Endometriosis, psychiatric comorbidities and neuroimaging: Estimating the odds of an endometriosis brain.

Endometriosis is a chronic pain disorder that affects young women, impairing their physical, mental and social well-being. Apart from personal suffering, it imposes a significant economic burden on the healthcare system. We analyzed studies reporting comorbid mental disorders in endometriosis based on the ICD/DSM criteria, discussing them in the context of available neuroimaging studies.

On the reliability of behavioral measures of cognitive control: retest reliability of task-inhibition effect, task-preparation effect, Stroop-like interference, and conflict adaptation effect.

This study examined the reliability (retest and split-half) of four common behavioral measures of cognitive control. In Experiment 1 (N = 96), we examined N - 2 task repetition costs as a marker of task-level inhibition, and the cue-stimulus interval (CSI) effect as a marker of time-based task preparation. In Experiment 2 (N = 48), we examined a Stroop-like face-name interference effect as a measure of distractor interference control, and the sequential congruency effect ("conflict adaptation effect") as a measure of conflict-triggered adaptation of cognitive control.