Basal testosterone moderates responses to anger faces in humans.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Neuroendocrinology
• Social Neuroscience

Background:

• Previous research indicates a link between testosterone (T) and vigilance towards angry facial expressions, which signal dominance challenges.
• Testosterone's role in processing social threat cues requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the reinforcing properties of anger faces using a differential implicit learning task (DILT).
• To determine if morning or afternoon testosterone levels better predict attention and vigilance towards anger faces.

Main Methods:

• Study 1: Employed a DILT where action sequences were paired with anger, neutral, or blank stimuli. Salivary testosterone was measured.
• Study 2: Assessed participants at 9:00 and 15:00, measuring salivary testosterone and using Stroop and dot-probe tasks with facial stimuli.

Main Results:

• Higher testosterone predicted enhanced learning of sequences associated with subliminal anger faces in Study 1.
• Morning testosterone levels predicted greater Stroop interference and attentional avoidance of subliminal anger faces in Study 2.
• These effects were specific to anger faces and not observed for joy faces or supraliminal anger stimuli.

Conclusions:

• Testosterone appears to modulate the reinforcing and attentional processing of anger cues, particularly those presented subliminally.
• Findings suggest testosterone may reduce aversion to threat or facilitate approach to dominance signals.