The administration of testosterone to women caused a significant enlargement of participants’ peripersonal space, suggesting that testosterone caused participants to implicitly appropriate a larger space as their own

Testosterone administration in women increases the size of their peripersonal space. Catherine Masson, Donné van der Westhuizen, Jean-Paul Noel, Adala Prevost, Jack van Honk, Aikaterini Fotopoulou, Mark Solms & Andrea Serino. Experimental Brain Research, Mar 26 2021. https://rd.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00221-021-06080-1

Abstract: Peripersonal space (PPS) is the space immediately surrounding the body, conceptualised as a sensory-motor interface between body and environment. PPS size differs between individuals and contexts, with intrapersonal traits and states, as well as social factors having a determining role on the size of PPS. Testosterone plays an important role in regulating social-motivational behaviour and is known to enhance dominance motivation in an implicit and unconscious manner. We investigated whether the dominance-enhancing effects of testosterone reflect as changes in the representation of PPS in a within-subjects testosterone administration study in women (N = 19). Participants performed a visuo-tactile integration task in a mixed-reality setup. Results indicated that the administration of testosterone caused a significant enlargement of participants’ PPS, suggesting that testosterone caused participants to implicitly appropriate a larger space as their own. These findings suggest that the dominance-enhancing effects of testosterone reflect at the level of sensory-motor processing in PPS.