Mateja Perovic

University of Toronto | U of T · Department of Psychology

Background Early ovarian hormone deprivation due to bilateral salpingo‐oophorectomy (BSO; ovarian and fallopian tube removal) is a risk for late‐life AD, but estradiol replacement therapy (ERT) may be protective (Rocca et al., 2007). Working and episodic memory decrements have been observed without ERT soon after surgery (Sherwin et al., 1988) and...

Ways in which ovarian hormones affect cognition have been long overlooked despite strong evidence of their effects on the brain. To address this gap, we study performance on a rule-plus-exception category learning task, a complex task that requires careful coordination of core cognitive mechanisms, across the menstrual cycle (N = 171). Results show...

Introduction Women with early ovarian removal (<48 years) have an elevated risk for both late-life Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and insomnia, a modifiable risk factor. In early midlife, they also show reduced verbal episodic memory and hippocampal volume. Whether these reductions correlate with a sleep phenotype consistent with insomnia risk remains un...

Background Women with early ovarian hormone deprivation due to bilateral salpingo‐oophorectomy (BSO; ovarian and fallopian tube removal) are at risk for later life Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but estradiol therapy (ET) may be protective (Rocca et al., 2007). Working memory (WM), temporarily maintaining and manipulating information in mind, depends on...

Background Women with bilateral salpingo‐oophorectomy (BSO; removal of ovaries and fallopian tubes) prior to age 50 have increased Alzheimer’s disease (AD) risk (Rocca et al., 2007), but the neural mechanisms for this are unclear. Abilities involving manipulation/maintenance aspects of working memory (WM) decline post‐BSO, and this effect may be re...

Background: Past research on polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a chronic endocrine condition, has focused on the experiences of cisgender women. Aims: The purpose of the present study was to address the knowledge gap about gender-diverse individuals by exploring their lived experiences with PCOS and to better understand if and how their gender iden...

Polycystic-ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder affecting women of reproductive age, and many features associated with PCOS – such as elevated androgens, insulin resistance and inflammation – are known to affect cognition. However, effects of PCOS on cognition are not well-understood. Here we review the current literature on...

Sex and Gender Science seeks to better acknowledge that the body cannot be removed from the world it inhabits. We believe that to best answer any neuroscience question, the biological and the social need to be addressed through both objective means to learn, "how it is like" and subjective means to learn, "what it is like." We call bringing the bio...

Background 17β‐estradiol loss is related to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) risk factors, including disordered sleep and associative memory decrements (Gervais et al., 2017; Rentz et al., 2017). Women have higher risk for AD than men, and those with mid‐life 17β‐estradiol loss due to surgical menopause, including bilateral salpingo‐oophorectomy (BSO) befo...

Background Women bear the greatest burden of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and early (<45y) ovarian hormone deprivation via surgical menopause further increases risk (Rocca et al., 2007). Given that sleep disturbance is implicated in AD progression (Lim et al., 2013), an important area of investigation is determining whether younger women with early su...

Introduction Early loss of 17β-estradiol (E2), as experienced by women with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (BSO; removal of ovaries and fallopian tubes), is associated with increased prevalence of sleep disorders and greater Alzheimer’s disease (AD) risk. In older adults, poor sleep heightens AD risk; hypoxia increases markers for incipient AD, in...

Introduction 17β-estradiol loss is related to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) risk factors, including disordered sleep and associative memory decrements. Women have higher risk for AD than men, and those with mid-life 17β-estradiol loss due to surgical menopause, including bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (BSO) before age 48, have even higher risk. We wond...

Background Alzheimer’s disease (AD)‐related brain pathology is observed in participants within the normal ranges of cognitive assessments (Delacourte et al., 1999). Consequently, there is increased interest in subjective cognitive decline (SCD), a self‐experienced decline in cognition, as an early risk factor (Jessen et al., 2014). SCD is associate...

Background Women bear the greatest burden of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) with menopause‐associated estrogen (E) loss becoming increasingly implicated. Surgical menopause <45 years of age (via bilateral salpingo‐oophorectomy, BSO) is thought to further increase the risk (Rocca et al., 2007). Neurodegeneration and atrophy in medial temporal lobe (MTL) s...

As a rite of passage to womanhood, 2 million girls undergo female genital circumcision (FGC) - the tradition of cutting, and often removing parts of the vulva - every year. The current study is the first to focus on the connection between peripheral nerve damage and chronic neuropathic pain in women with FGC. We used mixed methods - quantitative, q...

Conducted on a representative sample of Serbian youth (age 18 - 30), the current study (N = 504) provides evidence of the association between nationalism, religiosity and social dominance orientation (SDO) with traditionalist attitudes about women’s sexuality. Participants who strongly identified with their national and ethnic identity, expressed f...

The current study presents an evaluation of a theatre intervention carried out in nine Serbian cities with the aim of challenging gender norms and essentialist attitudes among youth. Results show significant changes in support for male dominance over women in personal and professional relationships, and beliefs that biological sex determines opinio...

Previous studies on gender-related views of young people in Serbia showed a high perception of women as the “weaker sex”. This study builds onto such findings by investigating the relationship between religiosity and views of gender roles in personal relationships along three dimensions: family roles, power dynamics, and sexual behavior. A represen...