---
title: Do women with more emotional sensitivity show different brain patterns during their menstrual cycle?
description: Yes. Women who are more emotionally sensitive show different brain patterns than less sensitive women, especially during the second half of the cycle.
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/variations-in-resting-frontal-alpha-asymmetry-between-high-and-low-neuroticism-2015/
---

- [Niyora](https://niyora.com/)
- [Research](https://niyora.com/research/)
- [Library](https://niyora.com/research/library/)
- Do women with more emotional sensitivity show different brain patterns during their menstrual cycle?

Study, 2015

# Do women with more emotional sensitivity show different brain patterns during their menstrual cycle?

Yes. Women who are more emotionally sensitive show different brain patterns than less sensitive women, especially during the second half of the cycle.

 Early or limited evidence

Healthy women with varying levels of emotional sensitivity

## What they did

Researchers measured resting brain activity in healthy women. Some had higher emotional sensitivity than others based on personality measures. They measured during three cycle phases: menstrual, late follicular, and midlate luteal.

## What they found

During the midlate luteal phase, women with higher emotional sensitivity showed less activity in the left prefrontal brain region compared to less sensitive women.

## What it means for you

Women who are emotionally sensitive may experience different emotional patterns during the second half of their cycle. A limitation is that the paper does not provide sample size information.

3

Menstrual cycle phases measured

## About the study

Original title Variations in resting frontal alpha asymmetry between high- and low-neuroticism females across the menstrual cycle Authors Huang Y, Zhou R, Cui H et al. Journal Psychophysiology Year 2015 Study design Study What was tested Resting brain activity measurement Read the paper [doi.org/10.1111/psyp.12301](https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.12301)

## Topics

[Menstrual cycle and mood](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-cycle-mood/)[Anxiety disorders and OCD](https://niyora.com/research/topics/comorbidity-anxiety-disorders/)

Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits.

Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor.

## Related studies

Systematic review, 2026

Can digital tools help diagnose PMDD?

Systematic review, 2022

Do mental health disorders get worse during the menstrual cycle?

Cohort study, 1993

How common are premenstrual and menstrual symptoms in women?

Study, 2026

Do anxiety and depression get worse before your period if you already have a mental health condition?

Study, 2026

What are premenstrual syndrome and premenstrual dysphoric disorder?

Systematic review, 2022

Do anxiety disorders, PTSD and OCD get worse at certain points in the menstrual cycle?

Ask AI about this page

Copy prompt

ChatGPT

↗

Claude

↗

Perplexity

↗

Google AI Mode

↗

Grok

↗