Fig. 5. Exposure to HEX modulated aggressive behavior in a sex-dependent manner within participants.

(A) In a within-subjects design, participants were exposed to an odorant (HEX and Control, counterbalanced for order), while they played a game where their online partner stole their money occasionally (provocation). During the game, they could aggress against that same (nonexistent) person by deducting money from them (Aggression). Each run duration was 8 min, and the anatomical scan duration was 5 min. (B) Pearson’s correlation between basal levels of aggression as measured here [aggression/provocation ratio (APR) in the control condition] and a standard AGQ, r = 0.30, P = 0.04. (C) Scatterplot of the APR under HEX and the APR in the control condition. Each dot is a participant, women (blue) and men (orange). The scatterplot is summarized in a box plot graph. Dotted circles represent outliers (>mean ± 3 SDs). In the box plot, empty circles represent values larger than 1.5 * IQR, thick horizontal lines represent the median, the X is the group mean, the rectangle reflects the IQR (25th to the 75th percentiles), and the whiskers are no more than 1.5 * IQR of the upper and lower hinges. All tests were two-tailed, all centers reflect mean, and all error bars reflect SEM. *P < 0.05, ***P < 0.005.