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Lu J, Ye Y, Wu Y. Little evidence that androstadienone affects social distance-dependent prosocial behaviour: a pre-registered study. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2024; 11:240004. [PMID: 39076351 PMCID: PMC11285484 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.240004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2024] [Revised: 03/27/2024] [Accepted: 04/04/2024] [Indexed: 07/31/2024]
Abstract
In navigating the complexities of social life, humans have evolved to interpret invisible odorous chemical cues, with profound behavioural impacts often unbeknown to the conscious mind. The manifestation of this in humans is evident in the scent of androstadienone (androsta-4,16-dien-3-one), an odorous compound which is considered a putative human pheromone. The current study investigated the effect of androstadienone on social distance-dependent prosocial behaviour measured by a social discounting task, in which participants chose between selfish and generous options. Based on our pre-registration, we predicted a sex-specific effect, with males exposed to androstadienone exhibiting increased generosity, while females would choose more selfishly. Employing a double-blind, placebo-controlled, between-subject design, we recruited 170 participants who were randomly assigned to either the androstadienone or control condition. Olfactory stimuli were administered while participants completed the social discounting task. Inconsistent with our hypothesis, inhaling androstadienone did not impact social distance-dependent prosocial behaviour. This finding was supported by multiple estimates of prosociality, including model-free, model-based and maximum likelihood estimation. Further analyses indicated that androstadienone administration did not influence perceived social distance or bias participants towards being generous or selfish. Thus, our empirical findings provide no support for the hypothesis that androstadienone modulates generosity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junsong Lu
- Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
| | - Yuting Ye
- Institute of Psychology, School of Public Affairs, Xiamen University, Xiamen, People's Republic of China
| | - Yin Wu
- Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
- Research Institute for Sports Science and Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
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2
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Ferdenzi C, Fournel A, Baldovini N, Poupon D, Ligout D, Thévenet M, Bouet R, Bensafi M. Influence of the human body odor compound HMHA on face perception. Perception 2024; 53:180-196. [PMID: 38216326 DOI: 10.1177/03010066231222473] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/14/2024]
Abstract
Body odors convey information about the individuals, but the mechanisms are not fully understood yet. As far as human reproduction is concerned, molecules that are produced in sexually dimorphic amounts could be possible chemosignals. 3-hydroxy-3-methylhexanoic acid (HMHA) is one of them-more typical of men. Here, we investigated the possibility that the perception of gender and attractiveness in human faces could be implicitly influenced by this compound. Clearly feminine, ambiguous and clearly masculine faces were primed with an odor of HMHA, a control odor or air. Based on 100-ms face presentation, 40 raters had to identify the face's gender as quickly as possible and provide attractiveness evaluations. 3-hydroxy-3-methylhexanoic acid tended to be perceived as less pleasant and induced lower sniff duration in women compared with men. As to the effects of HMHA on face perception (vs. control conditions), we found that gender identification and the associated response time were unaffected by HMHA. Attractiveness of the faces, however, increased in presence of HMHA, but not in a sex-specific manner and only for unattractive faces with ambiguous gender. In sum, this study found no evidence in favor of a possible role of this sexually dimorphic compound in intrasexual competition nor in intersexual attraction.
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Agron S, de March CA, Weissgross R, Mishor E, Gorodisky L, Weiss T, Furman-Haran E, Matsunami H, Sobel N. A chemical signal in human female tears lowers aggression in males. PLoS Biol 2023; 21:e3002442. [PMID: 38127837 PMCID: PMC10734982 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002442] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2023] [Accepted: 11/21/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Rodent tears contain social chemosignals with diverse effects, including blocking male aggression. Human tears also contain a chemosignal that lowers male testosterone, but its behavioral significance was unclear. Because reduced testosterone is associated with reduced aggression, we tested the hypothesis that human tears act like rodent tears to block male aggression. Using a standard behavioral paradigm, we found that sniffing emotional tears with no odor percept reduced human male aggression by 43.7%. To probe the peripheral brain substrates of this effect, we applied tears to 62 human olfactory receptors in vitro. We identified 4 receptors that responded in a dose-dependent manner to this stimulus. Finally, to probe the central brain substrates of this effect, we repeated the experiment concurrent with functional brain imaging. We found that sniffing tears increased functional connectivity between the neural substrates of olfaction and aggression, reducing overall levels of neural activity in the latter. Taken together, our results imply that like in rodents, a human tear-bound chemosignal lowers male aggression, a mechanism that likely relies on the structural and functional overlap in the brain substrates of olfaction and aggression. We suggest that tears are a mammalian-wide mechanism that provides a chemical blanket protecting against aggression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shani Agron
- The Azrieli National Center for Human Brain Imaging and Research, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- The Department for Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Claire A. de March
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
- Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Reut Weissgross
- The Azrieli National Center for Human Brain Imaging and Research, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- The Department for Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Eva Mishor
- The Azrieli National Center for Human Brain Imaging and Research, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- The Department for Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Lior Gorodisky
- The Azrieli National Center for Human Brain Imaging and Research, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- The Department for Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Tali Weiss
- The Azrieli National Center for Human Brain Imaging and Research, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- The Department for Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Edna Furman-Haran
- The Azrieli National Center for Human Brain Imaging and Research, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Hiroaki Matsunami
- Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
- Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Noam Sobel
- The Azrieli National Center for Human Brain Imaging and Research, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- The Department for Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
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Ye Y, Nan Y, Wei R, Wu Y. Sex-specific effects of human chemosignal on perception of angry but not fearful faces. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2023; 151:106055. [PMID: 36822128 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2023.106055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2022] [Revised: 02/10/2023] [Accepted: 02/10/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2023]
Abstract
Androsta-4,16,-dien-3-one (androstadienone), a steroids implicated as a human social chemosignal, has been reported to impact one's emotional perception along the valence axis. The current study takes a step further to examine whether it modulates the perception of angry and fearful faces, two negative emotions that are similar with respect to valence and arousal, but signal different social values. Systematic comparisons of psychophysical data collected from 40 heterosexual men and 45 heterosexual women revealed that androstadienone subconsciously biased heterosexual men toward perceiving the male faces as less angry, while it biased the heterosexual women toward perceiving the female faces as angrier. Meanwhile, androstadienone did not affect the perception of fearful faces in either men or women. These findings indicate that the modulation of androstadienone on negative emotional perceptions is not uniform, suggesting that it alters the perception of specific rather than general negative emotions. In particular, it impacts one's perception of anger, which signals impending aggression, and hence could further impact an individual's social interaction in a sex-specific manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuting Ye
- Institute of Psychology, School of Public Affairs, Xiamen University, No. 422, Siming South Road, Xiamen, Fujian, China
| | - Yu Nan
- Department of Applied Social Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 11 Yuk Choi Rd, Hung Hom, Kowloon, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China; School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, 3663 N. Zhongshan Road, Shanghai, China
| | - Ran Wei
- Liang Hua Middle School, Huidong County, Huizhou, Guangdong, China
| | - Yin Wu
- Department of Applied Social Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 11 Yuk Choi Rd, Hung Hom, Kowloon, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China; Research Institute for Sports Science and Technology, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 11 Yuk Choi Rd, Hung Hom, Kowloon, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China.
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5
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Drea CM, Davies CS. Meerkat manners: Endocrine mediation of female dominance and reproductive control in a cooperative breeder. Horm Behav 2022; 145:105245. [PMID: 35988450 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2022.105245] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2022] [Revised: 07/18/2022] [Accepted: 08/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
This article is part of a Special Issue (Hormones and Hierarchies). To gain more balanced understanding of sexual selection and mammalian sexual differentiation processes, this review addresses behavioral sex differences and hormonal mediators of intrasexual competition in the meerkat (Suricata suricatta) - a cooperative breeder unusual among vertebrates in its female aggression, degree of reproductive skew, and phenotypic divergence. Focused on the evolution, function, mechanism, and development of female dominance, the male remains a key reference point throughout. Integrated review of endocrine function does not support routine physiological suppression in subordinates of either sex, but instead a ramp up of weight, reproduction, aggression, and sex steroids, particularly androgens, in dominant females. Important and timely questions about female competition are thus addressed by shifting emphasis from mediators of reproductive suppression to mediators of reproductive control, and from organizational and activational roles of androgens in males to their roles in females. Unusually, we ask not only how inequity is maintained, but how dominance is acquired within a lifetime and across generations. Antiandrogens administered in the field to males and pregnant dominant females confirm the importance of androgen-mediated food competition. Moreover, effects of maternal endocrine milieu on offspring development reveal a heritable, androgenic route to female aggression, likely promoting reproductive priority along dominant matrilines. Integrating endocrine measures with long-term behavioral, ecological, morphological, and life-history data on normative and experimental individuals, across life stages and generations, provides better appreciation of the role of naturally circulating androgens in regulating the female phenotype, and sheds new light on the evolution of female dominance, reproductive inequity, and cooperative breeding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christine M Drea
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0383, USA; Kalahari Research Trust, Kuruman River Reserve, Northern Cape, South Africa.
| | - Charli S Davies
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0383, USA; Kalahari Research Trust, Kuruman River Reserve, Northern Cape, South Africa
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6
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Humans and the Olfactory Environment: A Case of Gene-Culture Coevolution? PSYCH 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/psych4020027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
As hunter-gatherers, humans used their sense of smell to identify plants and animals, to find their way within a foraging area, or to distinguish each other by gender, age, kinship, or social dominance. Because women gathered while men hunted, the sexes evolved different sensitivities to plant and animal odors. They also ended up emitting different odors. Male odors served to intimidate rival males or assert dominance. With the rise of farming and sedentism, humans no longer needed their sense of smell to find elusive food sources or to orient themselves within a large area. Odors now came from a narrower range of plants and animals. Meanwhile, body odor was removed through bathing to facilitate interactions in enclosed spaces. This new phenotype became the template for the evolution of a new genotype: less sensitivity to odors of wild plants and animals, lower emissions of male odors, and a more negative response to them. Further change came with the development of fragrances to reodorize the body and the home. This new olfactory environment coevolved with the ability to represent odors in the mind, notably for storage in memory, for vicarious re-experiencing, or for sharing with other people through speech and writing.
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Abstract
In this review, we describe proposed circuits mediating the mechanism of action of pherines, a new class of synthetic neuroactive steroids with demonstrated antianxiety and antidepressant properties, that engage nasal chemosensory receptors. We hypothesize that afferent signals triggered by activation of these peripheral receptors could reach subgroups of olfactory bulb neurons broadcasting information to gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABAergic) and corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) neurons in the limbic amygdala. We propose that chemosensory inputs triggered by pherines project to centrolateral (CeL) and centromedial (CeM) amygdala neurons, with downstream effects mediating behavioral actions. Anxiolytic pherines could activate the forward inhibitory GABAergic neurons that facilitate the release of neuropeptide S (NPS) in the locus coeruleus (LC) and GABA in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) and inhibit catecholamine release in the LC and ventral tegmental area (VTA) leading to rapid anxiolytic effect. Alternatively, antidepressant pherines could facilitate the CRH and GABAergic neurons that inhibit the release of NPS from the LC, increase glutamate release from the BNST, and increase norepinephrine (NE), dopamine (DA), and serotonin release from the LC, VTA, and raphe nucleus, respectively. Activation of these neural circuits leads to rapid antidepressant effect. The information provided is consistent with this model, but it should be noted that some steps on these pathways have not been demonstrated conclusively in the human brain.
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Tognetti A, Durand V, Dubois D, Barkat-Defradas M, Hopfensitz A, Ferdenzi C. The smell of cooperativeness: Do human body odours advertise cooperative behaviours? Br J Psychol 2021; 113:531-546. [PMID: 34882779 DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12544] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2021] [Revised: 11/17/2021] [Accepted: 11/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Several physical features influence the perception of how cooperative a potential partner is. While previous work focused on face and voice, it remains unknown whether body odours influence judgements of cooperativeness and if odour-based judgements are accurate. Here, we first collected axillary odours of cooperative and uncooperative male donors through a public good game and used them as olfactory stimuli in a series of tasks examining whether and how they influence cooperative decision-making in an incentivized economic game and ratings of cooperativeness. Our results show that having access to the donor's body odours provided a strategic advantage to women during economic decisions (but not to men): with age, women were more likely to cooperate with cooperative men and to avoid interacting with uncooperative men. Ratings of cooperativeness were nonetheless unrelated to the donors' actual cooperativeness. Finally, while men with masculine and intense body odours were judged less cooperative, we found no evidence that donors' actual cooperativeness was associated with less masculine or less intense body odour. Overall, our findings suggest that, as faces and voices, body odours influence perceived cooperativeness and might be used accurately and in a non-aware manner as olfactory cues of cooperativeness, at least by women.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arnaud Tognetti
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.,Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Toulouse, France
| | - Valerie Durand
- ISEM, CNRS, IRD, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Dimitri Dubois
- CEE-M, CNRS, INRAE, Institut Agro, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | | | - Astrid Hopfensitz
- EMLyon business school, Ecully, France.,GATE, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique, Ecully, France
| | - Camille Ferdenzi
- Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France
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Damon F, Mezrai N, Magnier L, Leleu A, Durand K, Schaal B. Olfaction in the Multisensory Processing of Faces: A Narrative Review of the Influence of Human Body Odors. Front Psychol 2021; 12:750944. [PMID: 34675855 PMCID: PMC8523678 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.750944] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2021] [Accepted: 09/06/2021] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
A recent body of research has emerged regarding the interactions between olfaction and other sensory channels to process social information. The current review examines the influence of body odors on face perception, a core component of human social cognition. First, we review studies reporting how body odors interact with the perception of invariant facial information (i.e., identity, sex, attractiveness, trustworthiness, and dominance). Although we mainly focus on the influence of body odors based on axillary odor, we also review findings about specific steroids present in axillary sweat (i.e., androstenone, androstenol, androstadienone, and estratetraenol). We next survey the literature showing body odor influences on the perception of transient face properties, notably in discussing the role of body odors in facilitating or hindering the perception of emotional facial expression, in relation to competing frameworks of emotions. Finally, we discuss the developmental origins of these olfaction-to-vision influences, as an emerging literature indicates that odor cues strongly influence face perception in infants. Body odors with a high social relevance such as the odor emanating from the mother have a widespread influence on various aspects of face perception in infancy, including categorization of faces among other objects, face scanning behavior, or facial expression perception. We conclude by suggesting that the weight of olfaction might be especially strong in infancy, shaping social perception, especially in slow-maturing senses such as vision, and that this early tutoring function of olfaction spans all developmental stages to disambiguate a complex social environment by conveying key information for social interactions until adulthood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabrice Damon
- Developmental Ethology and Cognitive Psychology Laboratory, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation, Inrae, AgroSup Dijon, CNRS (UMR 6265), Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France
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10
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Barros F, Soares SC. Giving meaning to the social world in autism spectrum disorders: Olfaction as a missing piece of the puzzle? Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 116:239-250. [PMID: 32562688 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.06.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2019] [Revised: 03/09/2020] [Accepted: 06/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Altered social cognition is a core feature of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). These impairments have been explained as the consequence of compromised social motivational mechanisms that limit social interest and activate a cascade of social deficits. Following this rational, we argue that approaches capable of surpassing ASD usual restraints (e.g., deficits in verbal abilities), and able to assign social meaning, could be more effective at responding to these difficulties. In this framework, we propose that olfaction, as well as cross-modal integration strategies involving both visual and olfactory domains, may have such potential. In fact, most of socioemotional processing deficits in ASD have been shown in an uni-modal perspective, mainly with visual stimuli. However, the social environment involves other modalities and is typically multisensorial. Given the potential of olfaction as a gateway for socioemotional information in ASD, we argue in favor of studying olfactory perception, as well as visuo-olfactory integration, given the potential of these approaches to drive effective interventions and give the access to a meaningful social world in ASD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Filipa Barros
- Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal; William James Center for Research (WJCR), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Sandra C Soares
- Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal; William James Center for Research (WJCR), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal; Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Division of Psychology, Karolinska Institutet, Nobels väg 9, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden.
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11
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Wyatt TD. Reproducible research into human chemical communication by cues and pheromones: learning from psychology's renaissance. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 375:20190262. [PMID: 32306877 PMCID: PMC7209928 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0262] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/16/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite the lack of evidence that the 'putative human pheromones' androstadienone and estratetraenol ever were pheromones, almost 60 studies have claimed 'significant' results. These are quite possibly false positives and can be best seen as potential examples of the 'reproducibility crisis', sadly common in the rest of the life and biomedical sciences, which has many instances of whole fields based on false positives. Experiments on the effects of olfactory cues on human behaviour are also at risk of false positives because they look for subtle effects but use small sample sizes. Research on human chemical communication, much of it falling within psychology, would benefit from vigorously adopting the proposals made by psychologists to enable better, more reliable science, with an emphasis on enhancing reproducibility. A key change is the adoption of study pre-registration and/or Registered Reports which will also reduce publication bias. As we are mammals, and chemical communication is important to other mammals, it is likely that chemical cues are important in our behaviour and that humans may have pheromones, but new approaches will be needed to reliably demonstrate them. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Olfactory communication in humans'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tristram D Wyatt
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
- Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
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12
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Niu C, Zheng L. Androstadienone resulted in a rightward shift of women's preference for sexually dimorphic male faces across the continuum of femininity-masculinity. Horm Behav 2020; 118:104635. [PMID: 31765659 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2019.104635] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2019] [Revised: 11/06/2019] [Accepted: 11/07/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
As a derivative of testosterone, androstadienone (AND) can influence human psychological and physiological states. To explore the influence of AND on women's preferences for male sexual dimorphic faces in a mate-choice context, we asked 52 females in the luteal phase to choose one from four sexual dimorphic male faces in a long-term and short-term context while inhaling 250 μm of AND or a placebo odor on two consecutive days. Results revealed that participants had a greater and lesser preference for the +30% masculinized and 60% feminized faces, respectively, while inhaling AND, as compared to when inhaling the placebo. The AND intervention resulted in a rightward shift of the women's preference for male sexual dimorphic faces across the continuum of femininity-masculinity. The current findings highlight that AND may influence women's preference for male sexually dimorphic faces in a mate-choice context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caoyuan Niu
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Southwest University, Chongqing, China; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Lijun Zheng
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Southwest University, Chongqing, China; Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
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13
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Ferdenzi C, Razafindrazaka H, Baldovini N, Poupon D, Pierron D, Bensafi M. Influence of gender and culture on the perception of acidic compounds of human body odor. Physiol Behav 2019; 210:112561. [PMID: 31178171 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2019.112561] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2018] [Revised: 04/17/2019] [Accepted: 05/24/2019] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
There is increasing evidence that human body odor is involved in interpersonal communication. However, among the wide variety of substances excreted by the human body that might act as chemosignals, much attention has been granted to androstenes to the detriment of other categories. Here, we focused on the acidic fraction of human body odor. We investigated men and women's perceptual descriptions and detection thresholds of the sexually dimorphic (male) compound 3-hydroxy-3-methylhexanoic acid (HMHA) in two contrasted cultures, France and Madagascar. Perceptual responses to HMHA in both countries were very similar. HMHA proved to be more typical of body odor than another chemically-related major compound of human body odor 3MHA (3-methylhex-2-enoic acid also known as 3M2H). A significant portion of the samples studied (between 8 and 19%) was likely to be anosmic to HMHA (and to 3MHA: 25%). Although differences would be expected between men and women's perceptual responses to HMHA, based on the assumption that this compound would have a function in human partner choice, no sex differences were found for any of the perceptual variables. However, in Malagasy women, perceived intensity of HMHA was higher in participants who were in the fertile phase of the menstrual cycle. Whether HMHA is relevant in the perception of a potential partner thus requires further explorations, with more implicit approaches for example and/or by investigating the repercussions of HMHA specific anosmia on interpersonal relationships.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camille Ferdenzi
- Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, CNRS UMR 5292, INSERM U1028, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier, 95 bd Pinel, 69675 Bron Cedex, France.
| | - Harilanto Razafindrazaka
- Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Moléculaire et Imagerie de Synthèse, CNRS UMR 5288, Université Toulouse 3, 37 Allées Jules Guesde, 31073 Toulouse Cedex 3, France; Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, EFS, ADES, Marseille, France; Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, 21 allée de Brienne, 31015 Cedex 6, Toulouse, France
| | - Nicolas Baldovini
- Institut de Chimie de Nice, CNRS UMR 7272, Université de Nice-Sophia Antipolis, Parc Valrose, 28 avenue Valrose, 06108 Nice Cedex 2, France
| | - Daphnée Poupon
- Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, CNRS UMR 5292, INSERM U1028, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier, 95 bd Pinel, 69675 Bron Cedex, France
| | - Denis Pierron
- Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Moléculaire et Imagerie de Synthèse, CNRS UMR 5288, Université Toulouse 3, 37 Allées Jules Guesde, 31073 Toulouse Cedex 3, France
| | - Moustafa Bensafi
- Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, CNRS UMR 5292, INSERM U1028, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier, 95 bd Pinel, 69675 Bron Cedex, France
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14
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Banner A, Gabay S, Shamay-Tsoory S. Androstadienone, a putative chemosignal of dominance, increases gaze avoidance among men with high social anxiety. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2019; 102:9-15. [PMID: 30481725 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.11.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2018] [Revised: 11/16/2018] [Accepted: 11/19/2018] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
Socially anxious individuals show increased sensitivity toward social threat signals, including cues of dominance. This sensitivity may account for the hypervigilance and gaze avoidance commonly reported in individuals with social anxiety. This study examines visual scanning behavior in response to androstadienone (androsta-4,16,-dien-3-one), a putative chemosignal of dominance. We tested whether exposure to androstadienone would increase hypervigilance and gaze avoidance among individuals with high social anxiety. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject design, 26 participants with high social anxiety and 26 with low social anxiety were exposed to androstadienone and a control solution on two separate days. On each day, an eye-tracker recorded their spontaneous scanning behavior while they viewed facial images of men depicting dominant and neutral poses. The results indicate that among participants with high social anxiety, androstadienone increased gaze avoidance by reducing the percentage of fixations made to the eye-region and the total amount of time spent gazing at the eye-region of the faces. Participants with low social anxiety did not show this effect. These findings indicate that androstadienone serves as a threatening chemosignal of dominance, further supporting the link between hypersensitivity toward social threat cues and the perpetuation of social anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Banner
- Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Abba Khoushy Ave 199, Haifa, Israel.
| | - S Gabay
- Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Abba Khoushy Ave 199, Haifa, Israel; The Institute of Information Processing and Decision Making, University of Haifa, Abba Khoushy Ave 199, Haifa, Israel
| | - S Shamay-Tsoory
- Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Abba Khoushy Ave 199, Haifa, Israel
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15
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Oren C, Shamay-Tsoory SG. Women's fertility cues affect cooperative behavior: Evidence for the role of the human putative chemosignal estratetraenol. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2019; 101:50-59. [PMID: 30408723 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.10.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2018] [Revised: 10/25/2018] [Accepted: 10/26/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies demonstrating that women's body odor during ovulation is perceived as more attractive suggest that exposure to women's chemosignals of high fertility increases mating motivation. Building on previous evidence showing that cooperative behaviors are perceived as attractive, in the current study we investigated whether chemosignals of women's fertility affect men's tendency to behave cooperatively. In the first experiment we found that in the presence of women's body odor during ovulation, men increase their tendency to apply a cooperative strategy, while their tendency to apply an individualistic strategy decreases. To examine the mechanism underlying this effect, we tested a different sample of men exposed to the putative human pheromone estratetraenol (estra-1,3,5(10),16-tetraen-3-ol) or to a control solution. Exposure toestratetraenol compared with control yielded strikingly similar effects of increased cooperation. The results indicate that women's chemosignals of high fertility increase mating motivation among man, encouraging them to act in a cooperative manner toward others, a response that may highlight their attractive qualities and thus attract mates. We further conclude that estratetraenol may serve as one of the biological agents that mediate the behavioral effects of women's chemosignals of fertility on social behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen Oren
- Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave., Mount Carmel, Haifa, 3498838, Israel.
| | - Simone G Shamay-Tsoory
- Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave., Mount Carmel, Haifa, 3498838, Israel
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16
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Banner A, Frumin I, Shamay-Tsoory SG. Androstadienone, a Chemosignal Found in Human Sweat, Increases Individualistic Behavior and Decreases Cooperative Responses in Men. Chem Senses 2019; 43:189-196. [PMID: 29390162 DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjy002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
A growing body of evidence suggests that humans can communicate socially relevant information, such as aggression, dominance, and readiness for competition, through chemosensory signals. Androstadienone (androsta-4,16,-dien-3-one), a testosterone-derived compound found in men's axillary sweat, is a main candidate for a human pheromone that may convey such information. The current study aimed to investigate whether androstadienone serves as a chemosignaling threat cue to men, thus triggering avoidance behavior during competitive interaction with another man. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject study design, 30 healthy, normosmic, heterosexual male participants completed the social orientation paradigm (SOP), a monetary game played against a fictitious partner that allows 3 types of responses to be measured in the context of provocation: an aggressive response, an individualistic withdrawal response, and a cooperative response. Participants completed the SOP task twice, once under exposure to androstadienone and once under exposure to a control solution. The results indicate that androstadienone increased individualistic responses while it decreased cooperative responses. These findings support the role of androstadienone as a threatening signal of dominance that elicits behavioral avoidance and social withdrawal tendencies, possibly as a submissive response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amir Banner
- Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
| | - Idan Frumin
- Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.,Basic Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA
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17
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Borráz-León JI, Rantala MJ, Cerda-Molina AL. Digit ratio (2D:4D) and facial fluctuating asymmetry as predictors of the dark triad of personality. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2018.08.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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18
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Banner A, Shamay-Tsoory S. Effects of androstadienone on dominance perception in males with low and high social anxiety. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2018; 95:138-144. [PMID: 29859341 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.05.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2018] [Revised: 05/23/2018] [Accepted: 05/23/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Increasing evidence suggests that humans can communicate both trait-dominance and state-dominance via body odor. Androstadienone (androsta-4,16,-dien-3-one), a chemosignal found in human sweat, seems to be a likely candidate for signaling dominance in humans. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effects of androstadienone on the perception of social dominance. Moreover, we examined whether high levels of social anxiety, a psychopathology involving concerns that specifically pertain to social dominance, are associated with increased sensitivity to androstadienone as a chemical cue of dominance. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject design, 64 heterosexual male participants (32 with high social anxiety and 32 with low social anxiety) viewed facial images of males depicting dominant, neutral and submissive postures, and were asked to recognize and rate the dominance expressed in those images. Participants completed the task twice, once under exposure to androstadienone and once under exposure to a control solution. The results indicate that androstadienone increased the perceived dominance of men's faces, specifically among participants with high social anxiety. These findings suggest a direct influence of androstadienone on dominance perception and further highlight the preferential processing of dominance and social threat signals evident in social anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amir Banner
- Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Abba Khoushy Ave 199, Haifa, Israel.
| | - Simone Shamay-Tsoory
- Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Abba Khoushy Ave 199, Haifa, Israel
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19
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Alarcón G, Forbes EE. Prosocial Behavior and Depression: a Case for Developmental Gender Differences. Curr Behav Neurosci Rep 2017; 4:117-127. [PMID: 29503791 DOI: 10.1007/s40473-017-0113-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Purpose of Review Prosocial behavior and depression are related constructs that both increase during adolescence and display gender-specific effects. The current review surveys literature examining the association between depressive symptoms and prosociality, measured with behavioral economic paradigms, across development and proposes a theoretical model explaining a mechanism through which adolescent girls have higher risk for depression than boys. Recent Findings Relative to healthy controls, prosocial behavior is reduced in adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) but may be increased in adolescents with MDD. The relationship between non-clinical levels of depressive symptoms and prosocial behavior remains to be studied experimentally; however, self-reported prosocial behavior is negatively associated with depressive symptoms in non-clinical adolescents, which may suggest a shift in the relation of prosocial behavior and depressive symptoms across the non-clinical (i.e., negative) to clinical range (i.e., positive). Summary The effect of gender on these developmental and clinical status shifts has not been studied but could have important implications for understanding the emergence of higher rates of depression in girls than boys during adolescence. We propose that girls are at heightened risk for depression due to higher social-evaluative concern and other-oriented prosocial motivation that emphasize the needs of others over the self, leading to more altruistic prosocial behavior (despite personal cost) and a higher burden that enables depressive symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriela Alarcón
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, 3811 O'Hara Street, Loeffler 319, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Erika E Forbes
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, 3811 O'Hara Street, Loeffler 319, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.,Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, 210 S Bouquet Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
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20
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Borráz-León JI, Cerda-Molina AL, Mayagoitia-Novales L. Testosterone level changes after perceiving the body odour of a possible rival in human males: the role of facial symmetry. BEHAVIOUR 2017. [DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-00003437] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
An individual’s body odour is a characteristic that is used to obtain information about conspecifics. However, to our knowledge the role of body odour and the degree of facial symmetry on testosterone changes among men as indicators of possible rivals has not been investigated yet. A group of 113 men were photographed to obtain their degree of facial symmetry, i.e., the small random deviations in facial bilateral traits. They smelled and assessed the odour of men with different grades of facial symmetry, and donated two saliva samples (pre- and post-stimulus sample) to measure the change in their testosterone levels. We found that testosterone levels decreased in symmetrical men who perceived the odour of asymmetrical men. Our results suggest that men could perceive characteristics in other men that are highly valued by women through odour to identify possible rivals, and that the observed decrease in testosterone levels could be related to an inhibition of competitive behaviours.
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Affiliation(s)
- Javier I. Borráz-León
- Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México
- Departamento de Etología, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría “Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz”, Ciudad de México, México
| | - Ana Lilia Cerda-Molina
- Departamento de Etología, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría “Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz”, Ciudad de México, México
| | - Lilian Mayagoitia-Novales
- Departamento de Etología, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría “Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz”, Ciudad de México, México
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21
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Hummer TA, Phan KL, Kern DW, McClintock MK. A human chemosignal modulates frontolimbic activity and connectivity in response to emotional stimuli. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2017; 75:15-25. [PMID: 27768980 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2016.09.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2016] [Revised: 09/23/2016] [Accepted: 09/28/2016] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Evidence suggests the putative human pheromone Δ4,16-androstadien-3-one (androstadienone), a natural component of human sweat, increases attention to emotional information when passively inhaled, even in minute amounts. However, the neural mechanisms underlying androstadienone's impact on the perception of emotional stimuli have not been clarified. To characterize how the compound modifies neural circuitry while attending to emotional information, 22 subjects (11 women) underwent two fMRI scanning sessions, one with an androstadienone solution and one with a carrier control solution alone on their upper lip. During each session, participants viewed blocks of emotionally positive, negative, or neutral images. The BOLD response to emotional images (relative to neutral images) was greater during exposure to androstadienone in right orbitofrontal and lateral prefrontal cortex, particularly during positive image blocks. Androstadienone did not impact the response to social images, compared to nonsocial images, and results were not related to participant sex or olfactory sensitivity. To examine how androstadienone influences effective connectivity of this network, a dynamic causal model was employed with primary visual cortex (V1), amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and orbitofrontal cortex on each side. These models indicated that emotional images increased the drive from V1 to the amygdala during the control session. With androstadienone present, this drive to amygdala was decreased specifically for positive images, which drove downstream increases in orbitofrontal and prefrontal activity. This evidence suggests that androstadienone may act as a chemical signal to increase attention to positively valenced information via modifications to amygdala connectivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tom A Hummer
- Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, United States.
| | - K Luan Phan
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago and Mental Health Service Line, Jesse Brown VA, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - David W Kern
- Institute for Mind and Biology and Department of Comparative Human Development, The University of Chicago, United States
| | - Martha K McClintock
- Institute for Mind and Biology and Department of Comparative Human Development, The University of Chicago, United States; Department of Psychology, The University of Chicago, United States
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22
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Ferdenzi C, Rouby C, Bensafi M. The Social Nose: Importance of Olfactory Perception in Group Dynamics and Relationships. PSYCHOLOGICAL INQUIRY 2016. [DOI: 10.1080/1047840x.2016.1215207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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23
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Perrotta V, Graffeo M, Bonini N, Gottfried JA. The Putative Chemosignal Androstadienone Makes Women More Generous. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2016; 9:88-99. [PMID: 27668033 DOI: 10.1037/npe0000055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Putative human chemosignals have been shown to influence mood states and emotional processing, but the connection between these effects and higher-order cognitive processing is not well established. This study utilized an economic game (Dictator Game) to test whether androstadienone (AND), an odorous compound derived from testosterone, impacts on altruistic behavior. We predicted that the female participants would act more generously in the AND condition, exhibiting a significant interaction effect between gender and AND on Dictator Game contributions. We also expected that the presence of AND should increase the positive mood of the female participants, compared to a control odor condition and also compared to the mood of the male participants. The results confirm our hypotheses: for women the subliminal perception of AND led to larger monetary donations, compared to a control odor, and also increased positive mood. These effects were absent or significantly weaker in men. Our findings highlight the capacity of human putative chemosignals to influence emotions and higher cognitive processes - in particular the processes used in the context of economic decisions - in a gender-specific way.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentina Perrotta
- Department of Knowledge, Autonomous Province of Trento, via Gilli, 3, I-38122 Trento TN, Italy
| | - Michele Graffeo
- Department of Economics and Management, University of Trento, Via Inama 5, I-38122 Trento, Italy
| | - Nicolao Bonini
- Department of Economics and Management, University of Trento, Via Inama 5, I-38122 Trento, Italy
| | - Jay A Gottfried
- Department of Neurology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
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Chung KC, Springer I, Kogler L, Turetsky B, Freiherr J, Derntl B. The influence of androstadienone during psychosocial stress is modulated by gender, trait anxiety and subjective stress: An fMRI study. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2016; 68:126-39. [PMID: 26970712 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2016.02.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2015] [Revised: 02/22/2016] [Accepted: 02/23/2016] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Androstadienone (ANDR), a bodily secreted steroid compound, is a socially relevant chemosignal that modulates subjective and (neuro)physiological responses, predominantly in females. The impact of ANDR on stress responses in males and females has not been explored. Therefore, this fMRI study aimed to examine psychosocial stress reactions induced by mental arithmetic and social evaluation on behavioral and hormonal levels (46 participants: 15 naturally cycling females in their early follicular phase (EF), 15 females on hormonal contraceptives (HC) and 16 males); and on a neural level (40 participants: 13 EF-females, 13 HC-females and 14 males) in an ANDR and placebo treatment repeated-measures design. While no gender differences emerged in subjective ratings and performance during stress, neural activation patterns differed significantly. Besides, ANDR attenuated the post-stress increase of negative mood in all participants. Region of interest analyses showed that irrespective of treatment, males showed stronger activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) than females. At the whole brain level, gender differences emerged indicating stronger fronto-parietal activation in males compared to HC-females on both treatments. Males showed stronger visual and fusiform activation than EF-females under ANDR. Both female groups did not show stronger activation than males. Further, error ratio in the ANDR-stress condition was positively associated with their post-stress cortisol level and increase in subjective stress in males; and male DLPFC activity in the ANDR-stress condition was negatively associated with trait anxiety. Surprisingly, compared to HC-females, EF-female only showed stronger activation of arousal-related areas under placebo treatment. Taken together, these findings suggest that the male stress reaction under social evaluative threat was stronger than female stress reactions as a function of ANDR. More specifically, this effect on behavioral and neural stress reactions seems to depend on trait anxiety in males only. The study highlights the significance of a chemosignal in enhancing social threat that may facilitate adaptive stress responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- K C Chung
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
| | - I Springer
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - L Kogler
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany; JARA, Translational Brain Medicine, Aachen, Germany; Institute for Neuroscience and Medicine, INM-1, Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - B Turetsky
- Neuropsychiatry Division, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
| | - J Freiherr
- Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany; Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV, Giggenhauserstr. 35, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - B Derntl
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany; JARA, Translational Brain Medicine, Aachen, Germany; Institute for Neuroscience and Medicine, INM-1, Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
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Androstadienone's influence on the perception of facial and vocal attractiveness is not sex specific. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2016; 66:166-75. [PMID: 26827295 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2016.01.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2015] [Revised: 01/15/2016] [Accepted: 01/15/2016] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
The androgen steroid androstadienone, an odorous compound emitted from the human axillary region, has recurrently been considered as a candidate compound involved in human chemical communication and mate choice. Although perception of androstadienone has been shown to influence several affective (mood), attentional, physiological and neural parameters, studies investigating its impact on human attractiveness remain unpersuasive because of incomplete designs (e.g., only female participants) and contradictory results. The aim of this study was to investigate how androstadienone may influence others' attractiveness. Specifically, we used a complete design (male and female raters, male and female faces and voices) to determine whether androstadienone influences the perception of social stimuli in a sex-specific manner, which would favor pheromonal-like properties of the compound, or in a more general manner, which would suggest that the compound has broader influences on human psychological responses. After comparing the ratings of men and women who were exposed to androstadienone masked in clove oil with those of men and women who were exposed to clove oil alone, we found that androstadienone enhanced the perceived attractiveness of emotionally relevant stimuli (opposite-sex stimuli in men and in fertile women). Response times for categorizing the stimuli as attractive or not were also affected by androstadienone, with longer response times in men and in fertile women and shorter response times in non-fertile women, irrespective of the stimulus sex. The results favor the hypothesis of general effects over sex-specific effects of androstadienone, thus questioning the relevance of focusing on that particular compound in the study of human attractiveness through body odor and encouraging the search for other semiochemicals that might be significant for human mate choice.
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26
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delBarco-Trillo J, Greene LK, Goncalves IB, Fenkes M, Wisse JH, Drewe JA, Manser MB, Clutton-Brock T, Drea CM. Beyond aggression: Androgen-receptor blockade modulates social interaction in wild meerkats. Horm Behav 2016; 78:95-106. [PMID: 26545817 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2015.11.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2015] [Revised: 11/01/2015] [Accepted: 11/02/2015] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
In male vertebrates, androgens are inextricably linked to reproduction, social dominance, and aggression, often at the cost of paternal investment or prosociality. Testosterone is invoked to explain rank-related reproductive differences, but its role within a status class, particularly among subordinates, is underappreciated. Recent evidence, especially for monogamous and cooperatively breeding species, suggests broader androgenic mediation of adult social interaction. We explored the actions of androgens in subordinate, male members of a cooperatively breeding species, the meerkat (Suricata suricatta). Although male meerkats show no rank-related testosterone differences, subordinate helpers rarely reproduce. We blocked androgen receptors, in the field, by treating subordinate males with the antiandrogen, flutamide. We monitored androgen concentrations (via baseline serum and time-sequential fecal sampling) and recorded behavior within their groups (via focal observation). Relative to controls, flutamide-treated animals initiated less and received more high-intensity aggression (biting, threatening, feeding competition), engaged in more prosocial behavior (social sniffing, grooming, huddling), and less frequently initiated play or assumed a 'dominant' role during play, revealing significant androgenic effects across a broad range of social behavior. By contrast, guarding or vigilance and measures of olfactory and vocal communication in subordinate males appeared unaffected by flutamide treatment. Thus, androgens in male meerkat helpers are aligned with the traditional trade-off between promoting reproductive and aggressive behavior at a cost to affiliation. Our findings, based on rare endocrine manipulation in wild mammals, show a more pervasive role for androgens in adult social behavior than is often recognized, with possible relevance for understanding tradeoffs in cooperative systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Javier delBarco-Trillo
- Kalahari Research Trust, Kuruman River Reserve, Northern Cape, South Africa; Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, USA; School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
| | - Lydia K Greene
- Kalahari Research Trust, Kuruman River Reserve, Northern Cape, South Africa; Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, USA; University Program in Ecology, Duke University, Durham, USA
| | - Ines Braga Goncalves
- Kalahari Research Trust, Kuruman River Reserve, Northern Cape, South Africa; Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Miriam Fenkes
- Kalahari Research Trust, Kuruman River Reserve, Northern Cape, South Africa; Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Jillian H Wisse
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, USA
| | - Julian A Drewe
- Kalahari Research Trust, Kuruman River Reserve, Northern Cape, South Africa; Royal Veterinary College, University of London, London, UK
| | - Marta B Manser
- Kalahari Research Trust, Kuruman River Reserve, Northern Cape, South Africa; Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Mammal Research Institute, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Tim Clutton-Brock
- Kalahari Research Trust, Kuruman River Reserve, Northern Cape, South Africa; Mammal Research Institute, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa; Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Christine M Drea
- Kalahari Research Trust, Kuruman River Reserve, Northern Cape, South Africa; Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, USA; University Program in Ecology, Duke University, Durham, USA; Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, USA.
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27
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Frumin I, Perl O, Endevelt-Shapira Y, Eisen A, Eshel N, Heller I, Shemesh M, Ravia A, Sela L, Arzi A, Sobel N. A social chemosignaling function for human handshaking. eLife 2015; 4. [PMID: 25732039 PMCID: PMC4345842 DOI: 10.7554/elife.05154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2014] [Accepted: 02/02/2015] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Social chemosignaling is a part of human behavior, but how chemosignals transfer from one individual to another is unknown. In turn, humans greet each other with handshakes, but the functional antecedents of this behavior remain unclear. To ask whether handshakes are used to sample conspecific social chemosignals, we covertly filmed 271 subjects within a structured greeting event either with or without a handshake. We found that humans often sniff their own hands, and selectively increase this behavior after handshake. After handshakes within gender, subjects increased sniffing of their own right shaking hand by more than 100%. In contrast, after handshakes across gender, subjects increased sniffing of their own left non-shaking hand by more than 100%. Tainting participants with unnoticed odors significantly altered the effects, thus verifying their olfactory nature. Thus, handshaking may functionally serve active yet subliminal social chemosignaling, which likely plays a large role in ongoing human behavior. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05154.001 Animals often sniff each other as a form of greeting to communicate with each other through chemical signals in their body odors. However, in humans this form of behavior is considered taboo, especially between strangers. Scientists argue that, in spite of our efforts to avoid being ‘smelly’, we may actually smell each other without being aware that we do so. Here, Frumin et al. first put on latex gloves and then shook hands with volunteers to collect samples of their odor. Chemical analysis of the gloves found that a handshake alone was sufficient to transfer the volunteers' odor. These odors were made of chemicals that are similar to ones that animals smell when sniffing each other. Therefore, when we shake hands with a stranger, it is possible that we may inadvertently smell the stranger's chemical signals. To address this possibility, Frumin et al. investigated how humans behave after shaking hands with a stranger. Volunteers were asked to wait in a room alone before they were greeted by one of the researchers. Some of these volunteers were greeted with a handshake and others were greeted without a handshake. Afterwards, all the volunteers spent some time in a room by themselves where their behavior was covertly monitored. Frumin et al. found that volunteers who shook hands were more likely to sniff their hand, for example, by touching their nose when they were in the room on their own, than those who did not shake hands. After the volunteers shook hands with someone of their own gender, they spent more time sniffing their right hand (the one they had used for the handshake). However, after the volunteers shook hands with someone of the opposite gender, they spent more time sniffing their left hand instead. Next, the body odor of some of the experimenters was tainted by perfumes or gender-specific odors. Volunteers who shook hands with these tainted individuals behaved differently; when the experimenter was tainted with perfume the volunteers spent more time sniffing their own hands, but when the experimenter was tainted with a gender-specific odor they spent less time sniffing of their own hands. This shows that different smells influenced the hand sniffing behavior of the volunteers. Frumin et al.'s findings suggest that a simple handshake may help us to detect chemical signals from other people. Depending on the person's gender, we may respond by sniffing our right hand to check out the person's odor, or our left hand to smell ourselves in comparison. Future studies will involve finding out how this sniffing behavior could work as an unconcious form of human communication. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05154.002
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Affiliation(s)
- Idan Frumin
- Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Ofer Perl
- Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | | | - Ami Eisen
- Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Neetai Eshel
- Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Iris Heller
- Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Maya Shemesh
- Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Aharon Ravia
- Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Lee Sela
- Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Anat Arzi
- Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Noam Sobel
- Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
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Krajnik J, Kollndorfer K, Nenning KH, Lundström JN, Schöpf V. Gender effects and sexual-orientation impact on androstadienone-evoked behavior and neural processing. Front Neurosci 2014; 8:195. [PMID: 25132813 PMCID: PMC4116783 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2014.00195] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2014] [Accepted: 06/22/2014] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
In humans, the most established and investigated substance acting as a chemosignal, i.e., a substance that is excreted from the body, is 4,16-androstadien-3-one (AND). AND, which is found in sweat and saliva, is known to be responsible for influencing several variables, such as psychophysiological status, behavior, as well as cortical processing. The aim of the present review is to give insight into the variety of AND effects, with special regard to specific cross-sexual characteristics of this putative human chemosignal, emphasizing the neural activation patterns and factors such as contextual conditions. This review highlights the importance of including those contributing factors into the analysis of behavioral as well as brain-related studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacqueline Krajnik
- Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna Vienna, Austria
| | - Kathrin Kollndorfer
- Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna Vienna, Austria
| | - Karl-Heinz Nenning
- Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy, Computational Image Analysis and Radiology Lab, Medical University of Vienna Vienna, Austria
| | - Johan N Lundström
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet Stockholm, Sweden ; Monell Chemical Senses Center Philadelphia, PA, USA ; Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Veronika Schöpf
- Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna Vienna, Austria
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