In her book, Sensory Intelligence — Why It Matters More than IQ and EQ, Annemarie Lombard states: ‘We are born with a certain genetic predisposition to either over- or under-respond to sensations from the environment.’ How much sensory input from the environment one can tolerate comfortably at any given time varies between individuals. Some more highly sensitive people tend to reach a point of over-arousal more easily, perhaps because their baseline arousal level is slightly higher to start with. This sensory overload at times can affect their ability to function at their best.

Andre Solo (https://highlysensitiverefuge.com/highly-sensitive-person-brain/) describes THREE big differences in the Highly Sensitive Person’s Brain:

1. HSPs mirror neurons are more active.
Mirror neurons in our brains help us understand what someone is doing or experiencing, based on their actions. In a research paper called ‘Monkey See, Monkey Do? The role of Mirror Neurons in Human Behaviour’ (2011), Arthur Glenberg stated that the brain’s mirror neuron system plays a role in how we understand other people’s speech, how and why we understand other people’s actions and, incredibly, how and why we understand other people’s minds and the intentions behind their actions.
Emotions are contagious because of mirror neurons in the brain. This helps humans to display empathy and compassion through an ability to match and feel other peoples’ moods, facial expressions, and behaviours.
We can more easily recognize the pain (or joy) someone is going through and relate to it. Andre says, “HSPs don’t necessarily have more mirror neurons than others, rather, their mirror neuron systems are more active. Functional brain imaging research has found that HSPs had consistently higher levels of activity in key parts of the brain related to social and emotional processing.” However, the downside of HSPs’ having more active mirror neurons is when you can’t watch the same TV show as everyone else because it’s too violent.

2. HSPs really do experience emotions more vividly.
Highly sensitive people process (feel and think about) things more deeply than others. They are finely tuned to pick up even subtle emotional cues and react to them. So if you ‘pick up’ and absorb more of what is happening around you, you will feel it more vividly.
“Vulnerability feels like my greatest strength. It’s the most human quality that allows the beauty and horror of the world to impress itself on our souls.” – Frank Ostaseski
“Highly sensitive people are only too aware of how their empathic nature affects them in everyday life. They too easily take on the whole world’s troubles and pains if they don’t protect themselves or take breaks by spending quiet time alone.” (Extract from Mark’s book.)

3. Other people are the brightest things on HSPs radar.
For less sensitive people, it’s easier to tune out other people. But for an HSP, almost everything about the brain is wired to notice and interpret others. This is clear from the many other parts of the brain that get extra-active for HSPs in social situations (as observed in functional brain imaging). For HSPs, these areas of the brain become far more active in response to images of other people, especially those exhibiting social or emotional cues. In other words, highly sensitive people actually become more alert, ‘more conscious’ and in the moment, in a social context. If you’re an HSP, other people are the brightest things on your radar!