Placenta brain...pregnancy and cognition

Since there is no extensive research in this phenomenon and I have personally gotten to see this happen, I tried finding some data to see what is the cause.

-One study I cam across found an association between prior history of PMS and perceived forgetfulness with the hypothesis that some women were more sensitive to the effects of the hormones.
-Another study found differences in arousal levels between pregnant women and controls. They also mention that mood can have an effect on perceived cognitive deficits.
-One other study found that pre-pregnancy personality and the level of consciousness had an impact of subjective perception of cognition, as did level of anxiety.
-Another study found selective attention deficits which tended to recover in post partum women.
-Peri-partum memory deficits have been found independant of mood changes. Progesterone and DHEA in pregnancy can have an effect on mood but memory deficits are independant of these variables.

Several conclusions

1. Subjective concern at feeling forgetful and lack of concentration is real and should not be dismissed when encountered.

2. The reason why this thing has not come out in studies is because of lack of instruments to detect a difference in between study population and control.

3. There is concern of "medicalizing" a natural process. There are a lot of implications to calling this a "maternal amnestic syndrome", including work rights for women at work place and discrimination based on gender.

4. Pre pregnancy level of functioning and personality structure and its response to stress can also play a role in which people feel and identify a change in cognition.

5. Changes in sleep and awareness can also contaminate subjective sensations.

More research is needed to see what are the exact deficits that are faced and what is there effect on daily routines. If special work accomodations have to be made at work place, it would not be prejudice, it would be recognizing nature.