Trial reportBiological psychiatry2014
Testosterone rapidly increases neural reactivity to threat in healthy men: a novel two-step pharmacological challenge paradigm.
Trial report in Biological psychiatry, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02734238 (Physiological and Psychological Effects of Testosterone During Severe Energy Deficit and Recovery), which is not on this map. Cited by 50 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Physiological and Psychological Effects of Testosterone During Severe Energy Deficit and Recovery: a Randomized, Placebo Controlled Trial
Who cites it
50 citing papers in PubMed, 187 citations in OpenAlex.
- Investigating the effects of single-dose intranasal testosterone on economic preferences in a large randomized trial of men.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Trial
- Effect of exogenous testosterone on cooperation depends on personality and time pressure.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2019Trial
- Blunted insula activation reflects increased risk and reward seeking as an interaction of testosterone administration and the MAOA polymorphism.Human brain mapping · 2017Trial
- Testosterone administration in females modulates moral judgment and patterns of brain activation and functional connectivity.Human brain mapping · 2016Trial
- Testosterone reactivity to provocation mediates the effect of early intervention on aggressive behavior.Psychological science · 2014Trial
- Neuropsychobiological transdiagnostic risk mechanisms for aggression in mental disorders across the life span.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Testosterone Levels, Challenging Parenting Behavior, and Protective Parenting Behavior: A Correlational Study Among First-Time Fathers in the First Year of Fatherhood.Developmental psychobiology · 2026Article
- Prenatal Interferon-Alpha Exposure Induces Autism-Like Neurobehavioral and Neurochemical Alterations in Male Offspring.Journal of neuroimmune pharmacology : the official journal of the Society on NeuroImmune Pharmacology · 2026Article
- Supraphysiological testosterone levels from anabolic steroid use and reduced sensitivity to negative facial expressions in men.Psychopharmacology · 2024Article
- Intranasal oxytocin interacts with testosterone reactivity to modulate parochial altruism.Communications psychology · 2024Article
- Exploring the relationships between dominance behavioral system, mentalization, theory of mind and assertiveness: analysis in a non-clinical sample.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: Focus on Neuroinflammation.Molecular neurobiology · 2023Review
- The Optimal Time-lag for Testosterone Challenge Research Based on Salivary Profiles Following Different Doses of Transdermal Testosterone Administrations.Journal of molecular neuroscience : MN · 2023Article
- The cerebellum during provocation and aggressive behaviour: A 7 T fMRI study.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2023Article
- The causal effect of testosterone on men's competitive behavior is moderated by basal cortisol and cues to an opponent's status: Evidence for a context-dependent dual-hormone hypothesis.Journal of personality and social psychology · 2022Article
- A Systematic Review of the Role of Oxytocin, Cortisol, and Testosterone in Facial Emotional Processing.Biology · 2021Review
- A Mechanism-Based Approach to Anti-Aggression Psychotherapy in Borderline Personality Disorder: Group Treatment Affects Amygdala Activation and Connectivity.Brain sciences · 2021Article
- A Combined Administration of Testosterone and Arginine Vasopressin Affects Aggressive Behavior in Males.Brain sciences · 2021Article
- Review Article: Anabolic-Androgenic Steroids, Violence, and Crime: Two Cases and Literature Review.The American journal on addictions · 2021Review
- Exploring the hormonal and neural correlates of paternal protective behavior to their infants.Developmental psychobiology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPrevious research suggests that testosterone (T) plays a key role in shaping competitive and aggressive behavior in humans, possibly by modulating threat-related neural circuitry. However, this research has been limited by the use of T augmentation that fails to account for baseline differences and has been conducted exclusively in women. Thus, the extent to which normal physiologic concentrations of T affect threat-related brain function in men remains unknown.
methodsIn the current study, we use a novel two-step pharmacologic challenge protocol to overcome these limitations and to evaluate causal modulation of threat- and aggression-related neural circuits by T in healthy young men (n = 16). First, we controlled for baseline differences in T through administration of a gonadotropin releasing hormone antagonist. Once a common baseline was established across participants, we then administered T to within the normal physiologic range. During this second step of the protocol we acquired functional neuroimaging data to examine the impact of T augmentation on neural circuitry supporting threat and aggression.
resultsGonadotropin releasing hormone antagonism successfully reduced circulating concentrations of T and brought subjects to a common baseline. Administration of T rapidly increased circulating T concentrations and was associated with heightened reactivity of the amygdala, hypothalamus, and periaqueductal grey to angry facial expressions.
conclusionsThese findings provide novel causal evidence that T rapidly potentiates the response of neural circuits mediating threat processing and aggressive behavior in men.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.