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Characteristics of autism include male predominance and impaired theory of mind. To further investigate relationships between autism, theory of mind, and testosterone exposure, researchers studied the effect of testosterone on cognitive empathy in 16 healthy women (mean age, 21).
In this cross-over, double-blind, controlled study, participants received 0.5 mg sublingual testosterone or placebo and, 4 hours later, were given the Reading the Mind in the Eye Test (RMET), a measure of cognitive empathy (i.e., an empirical assessment of theory of mind). RMET is a computerized task in which an individual selects one of two words to describe the emotion expressed in a picture of eyes (e.g., choice of “arrogant” or “hateful”). All participants were …