Physiology Commons^™

Testosterone And Interpersonal Attraction: A Placebo-Controlled Design, Stefan M. Goetz

Wayne State University Dissertations

Testosterone has long been implicated as a neuroendocrinological mechanism in the expression of reproductive strategies. Humans the world over form and maintain pair-bonds suggesting that pair-bonds may serve to enhance reproductive fitness. However, infidelity is a perennial threat to these bonds. The data in humans suggests that testosterone is associated with mate-seeking but may be detrimental to relationship maintenance. However, past work has relied on correlational studies and additional findings from nonhuman animal models suggest that acute changes rather than baseline concentrations in testosterone may in fact protect extant pair-bonds. The present research sought to test the causal role of …

Self-Construal Moderates Testosterone Reactivity To Competitive Outcomes, Keith Welker

Wayne State University Dissertations

Previous research shows that testosterone reactivity to competitive outcomes predicts aggressive behavior in men. However, some studies have failed to find these effects, and it has been suggested that individual differences moderate the relationships between competitive outcomes, testosterone fluctuations, and aggressive behavior. The current research examined whether one individual difference--self-construal--would moderate these effects. In Study 1, participants were assigned to win or lose a competitive video game and engaged in a reactive aggression task. Results indicated that increases in testosterone in response to winning and decreases in response to losing occurred in men with independent, not interdependent, self-construals. These changes …

Cardiovascular Fitness Associated With Cognitive Performance In Heart Failure Patients Enrolled In Cardiac Rehabilitation, Sarah Garcia, Michael L. Alosco, Mary Beth Spitznagel, Ronald Cohen, Naftali Raz, Lawrence Sweet, Richard Josephson, Joel Hughes, Jim Rosneck, Morgan L. Oberle, John Gunstad

Wayne State University Associated BioMed Central Scholarship

Abstract

Background

Reduced cognitive function is common in persons with heart failure (HF). Cardiovascular fitness is a known contributor to cognitive function in many patient populations, but has only been linked to cognition based on estimates of fitness in HF. The current study examined the relationship between fitness as measured by metabolic equivalents (METs) from a standardized stress test and cognition in persons with HF, as well as the validity of office-based predictors of fitness in this population.

Methods

Forty-one HF patients enrolled in cardiac rehabilitation completed a standardized exercise stress test protocol, a brief neuropsychological battery, the 2-minute step …