Association of menstrual cycle phase with the core components of empathy

► First study to investigate the relationship between menstrual cycle and a broader array of empathic abilities. ► Females during the follicular phase showed better emotion recognition performance. ► Females in the luteal phase showed faster responses when asked to imagine a sad or angry situation. ► Emotional perspective taking performance did not differ between the two phase groups. ► Progesterone correlated with emotion recognition and affective responsiveness in the luteal phase.