Androgens modulate neural mechanisms of empathetic processes in female-to-male transsexuals
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1
University of Lübeck, Germany
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2
International Neuroscience Institute, Germany
Women usually show higher sensitivity than men to emotional and social cues and are therefore better in showing empathy with others and in the deciphering of other’s intentions and mental states. These sex differences have been linked to hormonal levels. However, it remains unclear how hormones modulate neural mechanisms underlying emotional and social cognitive processes. To assess effects of chronic hormonal treatment, functional magnetic resonance imaging was used in a group of female-to-male transsexuals before and during androgene therapy while they watched a set of pictures portraying emotionally negative or neutral situations (emotional content) involving one or two persons (social relation). Before therapy, the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) showed greater activation for emotional than neutral stimuli. The posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) showed greater activations for emotional vs. neutral stimuli and for social relations relative to pictures of single persons. Long-term androgen administration altered both the emotional and the social cognitive aspects of the processing of complex visual scenes. For the pSTS, it reduced its activity in response to emotional stimuli as well as its response to social relation. For the mPFC, it reduced its activity in response to social relation but not the response to emotional stimuli. Thus, making a brain more male reduced the activity of two core hubs of the brain’s network supporting emotional and social cognitive processes related to empathy and mentalizing. Funding: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, SFB 779, TP A5, to TFM; KR 3691/1-1 to UMK), German Federal Department of Research BMBF (to TFM).
Keywords:
emotion,
gender differences
Conference:
XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Poster Sessions: Emotion, Motivation and the Social Brain
Citation:
Ye
Z,
Kopyciok
R,
Mohammadi
B,
Krämer
UM,
Heldmann
M,
Samii
A and
Münte
TF
(2011). Androgens modulate neural mechanisms of empathetic processes in female-to-male transsexuals.
Conference Abstract:
XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI).
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00158
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Received:
18 Nov 2011;
Published Online:
28 Nov 2011.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Zheng Ye, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany, zheng.ye@neuro.uni-luebeck.de