Testosterone administration does not alter the brain activity supporting cognitive and affective empathy

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Endocrinology

Background:

• Testosterone's impact on empathy is debated, with some evidence suggesting detrimental effects.
• Simultaneous investigation of testosterone's influence on both cognitive and affective empathy pathways is lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the effects of testosterone administration on brain activation during simultaneous cognitive and affective empathy tasks.
• To assess behavioral changes in empathy and response confidence following testosterone administration.

Main Methods:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) pharmacological study.
• Within-subjects, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind crossover design.
• 100 mg transdermal testosterone administration in 23 healthy adult men.

Main Results:

• Testosterone did not alter functional brain networks for affective or cognitive empathy compared to placebo.
• Canonical empathy networks were activated for both empathy types.
• Testosterone decreased error rates and increased response confidence behaviorally.

Conclusions:

• Testosterone administration in healthy men does not modify brain activity underlying cognitive and affective empathy.
• Testosterone influences empathic concern and socio-cognitive processes.
• Further research is needed to address reproducibility and variability in findings.