Why aren't men as caring as women? Blame their hormones! High levels of testosterone affect parts of the brain linked with emotion

By RYAN O'HARE

Introduction:

• "Researchers in Holland focused on how testosterone affects empathy

• In women given high doses of the hormone their brain activity changed

• They were slower to recognise emotions and made more mistakes in tasks

• The findings show that elevated testosterone can affect how brain regions communicate, reducing a person's ability to empathise with others.

In the study, led by Dr Peter Bos of Utrecht University, a small group of women was tested to see what effect testosterone had on how their brains processed empathy."

Notes:

How can an understanding of the effects of testosterone help in teaching empathy empathy?

Based on Study

Title: Testosterone reduces functional connectivity during the ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ Test

Authors

• Peter A. Bos

• Dennis Hofman,

• Erno J. Hermans,

• Estrella R. Montoya,

• Simon Baron-Cohen,

• Jack van Honk

Highlights

• Testosterone impairs cognitive empathy on the Reading the Mind in Eyes-test.

• Using fMRI, we investigated how testosterone reduces cognitive empathy.

• Testosterone reduced connectivity of the left IFG with the ACC and the SMA.

• This network underlies integration of sensory information and action preparation."

Notes

Method

• block empathy raise testosterone

  • increase empathy - lower testosterone