A single administration of testosterone induces cardiac accelerative responses to angry faces in healthy young women

Recently, it was demonstrated how individuals with high levels of testoster one selectively attend toward angry faces. It was argued that this suggests that high levels of testosterone are associated with an aggressive, domina ting personality style. In this study, the authors used a double-blind, pla cebo-controlled design to examine whether exogenous testosterone would indu ce cardiac acceleration in response to angry faces. Participants (healthy y oung women) were exposed to neutral, happy, or angry faces. Administration of a single dosage of testosterone (0.5 mg) induced an accelerative cardiac response to angry faces. It is argued that this effect is due to the encou ragement of dominance behavior and the inclination toward aggression. Possi ble mechanisms behind testosterone-driven changes in behavior are discussed with relevance to steroid-responsive networks in the limbic system that dr ive and control motivational and physiological aspects of social behavior.