Increased amygdala activity after testosterone administration is bound to social threat approach, not social threat avoidance, a newly published research article shows.
Sina Radke, Ph.D., of Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands and associates enrolled 54 female volunteers aged 18 to 30 in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study. The participants received either a single dose of 0.5 mg of testosterone (n = 26) or a matched placebo (n = 28), then completed a task where they were shown visually presented emotional facial expressions, and responded by either pulling a joystick toward their bodies (approach movement) or pushing it away from their bodies (avoidance movement).
Compared to placebo, testosterone administration increased left amygdala activity during approach trials at trend level (P = 0.10), and decreased it during avoidance trials (P = 0.01). In addition, left amygdala activity significantly differed between approach and avoidance of angry faces after testosterone administration (P = 0.034) but not after placebo (P = 0.23).
“By differentiating between approach and avoidance, we showed that testosterone modulates amygdala reactivity according to current motivational demands and not according to the emotional or action context per se,” the authors wrote. “This motivation-specific mechanism converges with approach-enhancing effects of testosterone observed during social challenges.”
Read the entire article here: Sci. Adv. 2015 (doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1400074)