Weak and Variable Effects of Exogenous Testosterone on Cognitive Reflection Test Performance in Three Experiments: Commentary on Nave, Nadler, Zava, and Camerer (2017)

Testosterone is associated with behaviors such as aggression and sensation seeking as well as behavioral disorders such as impulse-control disorders including drug addiction and eating disorders, but to what degree and how testosterone affects cognition and decision-making remains unclear. Given the role of testosterone in mating and reproduction, Nave, Nadler, Zava, and Camerer (2017) suggested that the “facilitation of rapid intuitive responses by testosterone could be biologically adaptive in contexts in which reproductive success depends on instincts (e.g., during copulation) and when responding slowly might be especially costly (e.g., during physical challenges)” (p. 1404). This led them to hypothesize that testosterone biases decision-making away from reflective and deliberate responses and toward rapid and intuitive ones, thereby elucidating one potential mechanism by which testosterone might cause behaviors and behavioral disorders.