Testosterone modulates preattentive sensory processing and involuntary attention switches to emotional voices

Abstract

Testosterone is capable of altering facial threat processing. Voices, similar to faces, convey social information. We hypothesized that administering a single dose of testosterone would change voice perception in humans. In a placebo-controlled, randomly assigned, double-blind crossover design, we administered a single dose of testosterone or placebo to 18 healthy female volunteers and used a passive auditory oddball paradigm. The mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a in responses to fearfully, happily, and neutrally spoken syllables dada and acoustically matched nonvocal sounds were analyzed, indicating preattentive sensory processing and involuntary attention switches. Results showed that testosterone administration had a trend to shorten the peak latencies of happy MMN and significantly enhanced the amplitudes of happy and fearful P3a, whereas the happy- and fearful-derived nonvocal MMN and P3a remained unaffected. These findings demonstrated acute effect of testosterone on the neural dynamics of voice perception. Administering a single dose of testosterone modulates preattentive sensory processing and involuntary attention switches in response to emotional voices.

Testosterone administration in females modulates moral judgment and patterns of brain activation and functional connectivity

“…On the other hand, the 2D: 4D had negative correlations with impersonal and nonmoral dilemmas. This dissociation between personal and impersonal or between moral and nonmoral dilemmas might reflect the energy re‐allocation, in which testosterone administration may elaborate the processing of significant social signals and reduce the processing of non‐relevant information at the same time [Bos et al, ; Chen et al, ]. Recently, one pharmacological fMRI study demonstrated that testosterone administration increased amygdala responses during threat approach, but decreased amygdala responses during threat avoidance, suggesting the motivation‐specific effects of testosterone on amygdala tuning [Radke et al, ].…”

“…Alternatively, many scholars argued that testosterone is primarily involved in statusrelated behaviors in challenging social interactions [Eisenegger et al, 2010;van Honk et al, 2012]. Testosterone administration could elaborate the processing of socially relevant stimuli Chen et al, 2015]. Endogenous testosterone is correlated with the involvement of the prefrontal cortex and amygdala in socio-emotional processing [Derntl et al, 2009;Mehta and Beer, 2010;Stanton et al, 2009;van Honk et al, 2012;Volman et al, 2011].…”

Mismatch negativity (MMN) stands at the crossroads between explicit and implicit emotional processing

“…The ratings on the Likert-scale (mean 6 SD) of fearful, angry, and neutral syllables were 4.34 6 0.65, 4.26 6 0.85, and 2.47 6 0.87, respective [see Chen et al, 2015Chen et al, , 2014Chen et al, , 2016aChen et al, , 2016bCheng et al, 2012;Fan et al, 2013;Hung et al, 2013;Hung and Cheng, 2014 for validation]. A female speaker from a performing arts school produced the meaningless syllables dada with three sets of emotional (fearful, angry, neutral) prosodies.…”

Hormone Therapy: Challenges for Treating Hearing Impairments

“…In addition, estrogen receptors in cochlear blood vessels can influence auditory function by modulating blood flow [18]. E2 receptors (ER) α and β are located in different central auditory structures in mice, and their differential location suggests distinct roles in auditory processing [19], as it occurs with testosterone in other animal models [20]. Particularly, E2Rβ is an important factor for preventing age-related hearing loss (ARHL).…”