Testosterone administration in women increases amygdala responses to fearful and happy faces
Open accessAbstract
Data from both rodents and humans show that testosterone reduces fear. This effect is hypothesized to result from testosterone's down regulating effects on the amygdala, a key region in the detection of threat and instigator of fight-or-flight behavior. However, neuroimaging studies employing testosterone administration in humans have consistently shown increased amygdala responsivity. Yet, no study to date has investigated specifically how testosterone affects the amygdala response to fearful emotional expressions. Such stimuli signal the presence of environmental threat and elicit robust amygdala responses that have consistently been associated with anxious traits. In the present study, we therefore used functional magnetic resonance imaging combined with a single administration of 0.5mg testosterone in 12 healthy women to assess testosterone's effects on amygdala responses to dynamic fearful (and happy control) faces. Our results show that both stimuli activate the amygdala. Notably, testosterone increased the amygdala response to both stimuli, and to an equal degree. Thus, testosterone appears not to reduce fear by attenuating the amygdala response toward signals of threat. Data further show that testosterone selectively increases activation of the superficial amygdala (SFA) and, to a lesser extent, the basolateral amygdala (BLA). No effect was found in the central nucleus, which is involved in the generation of autonomic fear responses. Both the SFA and BLA are considered input regions, and enhanced activation by testosterone might reflect the role of this hormone in adaptive responding to socially relevant stimuli. Furthermore, literature on the distinct roles of the SFA and BLA in fear processing show that increased activation of these subregions of the amygdala is consistent with a fear reducing effect of testosterone.
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Testosterone treatment modulated neural responses to emotional faces.
“modulated the neural responses to emotional faces [6]”
From Effects of sex and gonadectomy on social investigation and social recognition in mice (2015) · cites this paper as [6]
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“The amygdala, as a key component of the limbic system, is involved in human social and emotional behaviors (Bos et al. , 2013), and plays a crucial role in linking external stimuli to defensive responses (LeDoux, 2003).”
BackgroundMotoki, K., & Sugiura, M. (2017) · PSYCHOLOGIA · doi:10.2117/psysoc.2017.28 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Kulakova, E., Graumann, L., Cho, A. B., Deuter, C. E., Wolf, O. T., Hellmann‐Regen, J., Roepke, S., Otte, C., & Wingenfeld, K. (2024) · European Journal of Psychotraumatology · doi:10.1080/20008066.2024.2431368 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“Stand up for yourself!” Masculine honor beliefs and expectations for bullied youth
O’Dea, C. J., Rapp, S., Archer, A., Jones, T. L., & Saucier, D. A. (2024) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2024.112922 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Testosterone Administration Modulates Competitive Choice via Ventral Striatum and TPJPreprint
Engelmann, J. B., van Son, V., Roelofs, K., Sanfey, A. G., Smidts, A., & Mehta, P. H. (2026) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.64898/2026.05.05.722878
“…activation due to testosterone administration, on the other hand, is usually observed in tasks requiring the processing of emotional information from faces, such as their trustworthiness (Bos et al. 2012), or emotional expressions of fear, anger and happiness (Bos et al. 2013; Radke et al. 2015).”
Dubol, M., Jonasson, M., Takahashi, K., Wikstrom, J. J., Watanabe, Y., Antoni, G., Lubberink, M., Biegon, A. R., Poromaa, I. S., & Comasco, E. (2026) · Journal of Neuroendocrinology · doi:10.1111/jne.70154
“A one-week regimen was chosen, as daily application produces stable circulating concentrations within 2 – 3 days 28,29 and elicits central neural effects within hours, 30 – 33 providing several days of sustained steady-state exposure while limiting cumulative androgen burden for safety.”
Venkateshan, S., & Oinonen, K. A. (2025) · Women's Health · doi:10.1177/17455057251359761 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“This fits with research suggesting hormones may affect recognition of disgust 27 and fear 14 in women.”
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Social Neuroendocrinology of Status: A Review and Future Directions
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“Studies in men and women indicate that a single administration of T leads to increased amygdala and hypothalamus reactivity to threat-related stimuli (e.g., Bos et al. 2013; Hermans et al. 2008; Goetz et al. 2014) and decreased amygdala-orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) coupling (van Wingen et al. 2010).”
BackgroundTestosterone in patients with borderline personality disorder: from hair analyses to social behavior
Wingenfeld, K., & Kulakova, E. (2026) · Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.cpnec.2026.100371
“The amygdala is rich in testosterone receptors and testosterone administration increases amygdala reactivity in young and middle-aged women [47,48].”
Verde, V., Wörther, H., Kühle, A., Grunwald, P., Tschaidse, L., Chojnacki, M., Ilmberger, S., Berente, S., Reisch, N., & Krämer, U. M. (2026) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2026.105953
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Heany, S. J., Terburg, D., Stein, D., van Honk, J., & Bos, P. (2018) · bioRxiv · doi:10.1101/245001
“Given that previous studies have observed robust changes (indexed by medium-tolarge effect sizes) in neural activation after the same T administration as currently used in within-subject designs with smaller samples (36,37) we can be confident that our current”
Self-citationMessage from the Vice-Chancellor
Hasan, M. (2007) · 2022 International Conference on Smart and Sustainable Technologies in Energy and Power Sectors (SSTEPS) · doi:10.1177/223080750700100101
Sex Differences in Strength of Fear Response
Campbell, A. C., Copping, L. T., & Cross, C. (2021) · SpringerBriefs in anthropology · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-65280-7_4 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
- Authors
- Bos, P. A., van Honk, J., Ramsey, N. F., Stein, D. J., & Hermans, E. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Cape Town (ZA)
- University Medical Center Utrecht (NL)
- Radboud University Medical Center (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Bos, Peter A.
- Venue
- Psychoneuroendocrinology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2013-06
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 808-817
- ISSN
- 0306-4530 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2020246396
- Cited by
- 88
- References
- 67
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 12.07
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Psychoneuroendocrinology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Keywords
- testosterone, amygdala, fear processing, facial expressions, fearful faces, happy faces, superficial amygdala, basolateral amygdala, central amygdala, sex differences, women, threat detection
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Amygdala, Double-Blind Method, Facial Expression, Fear, Female, Happiness, Humans, Photic Stimulation, Saliva, Testosterone, Cross-Over Studies, Young Adult, Functional Neuroimaging
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