Figure 1.

The general arousal model of steroid intoxication positions the central nervous system to receive information from internal or environmental cues. This information is often represented as a function of the probability of cue (x) and the degree of uncertainty or entropy (H). As this information activates the arousal network, primed by synthetic androgens, an individual's threshold for emotional reactivity, sensory stimulation, and action decrease and allow the cue to generate a range of behaviors more quickly. Although healthy arousal should diminish after expression of the behavior, the artificial amplification of arousal reduces this natural negative feedback mechanism and results in greater intensity, magnitude, and frequency of the output behavior. Individual differences in arousal or inhibitory control should explain resilience or vulnerability to these androgen effects.