Does testosterone impair men's cognitive empathy? Evidence from two large-scale randomized controlled trials.

Area of Science:

• Neuroendocrinology
• Social Neuroscience
• Psychopathology

Background:

• Cognitive empathy, the ability to infer mental states, is crucial for social interaction and impaired in conditions like autism spectrum disorder.
• Previous research suggested testosterone impairs cognitive empathy and that prenatal testosterone exposure (indicated by digit ratios) may moderate this effect.
• However, prior evidence was limited by small sample sizes and inconsistent findings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To rigorously investigate the reliability and generalizability of testosterone's effects on cognitive empathy in healthy young men.
• To examine the association between cognitive empathy and finger digit ratios as a biomarker of prenatal testosterone exposure.
• To address statistical underpowering in previous studies through large-scale experimentation.

Main Methods:

• Conducted two large-scale, double-blind, placebo-controlled experiments involving young men (total N = 643).
• Administered testosterone using two distinct protocols across the experiments.
• Assessed cognitive empathy and measured finger digit ratios.

Main Results:

• Found no statistically significant evidence that testosterone administration impairs cognitive empathy in healthy young men.
• Observed no association between cognitive empathy and finger digit ratios.
• These findings, based on an unprecedented combined sample size, contradict previous reports and theoretical assumptions.

Conclusions:

• The current findings challenge established theories linking testosterone to impaired cognitive empathy.
• The results suggest that previous investigations were likely statistically underpowered, leading to spurious correlations.
• Further research is needed to understand the complex relationship between hormones, brain function, and social cognition.