Aim: Women undergo behavioral changes during the menstrual cycle. This study aimedto investigate the effect of estradiol (Es) on stress and effect of stress on spatialworking memory (WM) and also to investigate electroencephalogram (EEG) signal’sdynamics in the early and late follicular (EF and LF) and luteal (LU) phases of unmarriedgirls’ menstrual cycle.Methods: Stress was induced by presentation of a short (3 min) movie clip. Simultane-ous with a memory test and stress induction, EEG, serum Es levels, and galvanic skinresponse (GSR) were assessed.Results: Serum Es concentrations were decreased in LF, LU, and EF phases. The meanGSR score decreased after stress induction in all three phases, but it increased in theLF and LU phases versus the EF phase. Spatial WM diminished after stress induction inall three phases, but it increased in the LF phase versus the two phases before and afterstress induction. Average power spectrum density in all frequency bands increasedafter stress induction in the frontal and prefrontal channels in the spatial WM test.Conclusion: The results showed that stress led to spatial WM dysfunction; however, Esimproved spatial WM performance in the LF phase versus the other two phases

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