Scientists treated men with testosterone and assessed their ability to empathize.
, according to scientists who have questioned the idea that the hormone distorts this ability in people with autism.
ales are organized and systematic while women are more inclined towards empathy. Past studies have suggested being exposed to high levels of testosterone, including in the womb, could"masculinize" the brain and make it harder for men to empathize, rising to pathological levels in those with autism.
In the second experiment, 400 men with an average age of 22 in Canada followed similar steps, but instead half used a spray containing testosterone, while the others used a placebo.the term used to describe a person without autism. "Our results unequivocally show that there is not a linear causal relation between testosterone exposure and cognitive empathy," he said.and co-author Gideon Nave, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, toldthe results echo a 2016 study which similarly concluded there is no relationship between prenatal testosterone exposure and autistic traits.
"One of the results of our study is that the 2D:4D digit ratio, which is considered by many to be a proxy for prenatal testosterone exposure, is not associated with cognitive empathy.
"However, there is a critical flaw in the study which undermines the authors conclusions," he argued."The authors used a so-called 'empathy test' that is not a test of empathy at all. The 'Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test', as used by the authors, has recently been found to be a measure of emotion processing or even just a vocabulary test as it involves knowledge of complex words.
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