Humans
carry more secretion and sweat glands in their skin than any other primate, yet
70% of people lack a vomeronasal
organ. Vomeronasal is a crescent-shaped bundle of neurons at the base of each
nostril that allows a variety of species—from reptiles to nonprimate mammals—to
pick up on pheromones. Still, scientists have continued to search for examples of
pheromones that humans might sense.
Two
strong pheromones are androstadienone (andro) and estratetraenol (estra). Men
secrete andro in their sweat and semen, while estra is primarily found in
female urine. Researchers have found hints that both trigger arousal in the
opposite sex. Yet to be true pheromones, it is said that these chemicals must
shape how people view different genders.
A study
in the Chinese Academy of Sciences
in Beijing split men and women into groups of 24 and then had them watch
virtual simulations of a human figure walking. The head, pelvis, and major
joints in each figure were replaced with moving dots. Patrons in prior studies
had previously ranked the videos as being feminine or masculine.
In this study, three videos were shown. On the leftmost frame, a video was shown that included
a female gauged as having a quintessential female strut. Patrons
noticed a distinctive swagger in the “hip” dots and how they compared with
the flat pace of the “male” prototype in a video shown in the right frame. An
unbiased walk was featured in the middle frame of the video, but when the
subjects inhaled andro or estra, they judged the walk as either more masculine
or more feminine.
The
results depended on the viewer’s sexuality. Heterosexual women and gay men perceived the gender- neutral stride as more masculine after smelling andro,
whereas estra had no effect on them. In contrast, study leader and behavioral
psychologist Wen Zhou, pointed out that smelling estra influenced heterosexual
males, but not females, toward perceiving the walkers as more feminine. Gender
judgments of the simulated figures shifted on average by 8% for heterosexual
men and women as well as gay men.
It's very interesting to see how influential smells can be, especially when it comes to sexual arousal. I feel as though i'm going to pay attention to smells more after reading about this study.
Posted by Samuel Ustayev (Group C)
As humans, we have many different sensory perceptions. At any moment, all five of our senses can be inputting sensory information to our brains. But, our brain does a great job at sorting out what is most important. Often, we overlook subtle things such as background noise. This is because our neurons can only fire for so long without being tired and if we didn't overtook these things, we would have a sensory overload. Of the many senses, there are some that aren't as concrete as others. For example, with touch, sight, and taste, you can physically see and experience the stimulant. For smelling and hearing, it is a bit more abstract. You can only sense what you are hearing and smelling, unless you have sight or touch to tell you otherwise. This is probably why pheromones aren't as obvious to us than other animals (minus the fact that we don't have vomeronasal organ). But, our brain still picks up the signal and interprets it in our brain and then we have behavioral response that varies between like and dislike. I think if we want to know more about how pheromones affect humans, we should study the brain and not the subject's outward response.
ReplyDelete-Nicole B
I was not aware humans had the vomeronasal organ.. Interesting to know that some people do.. I agree with the comment above^^ watching how these pheromones affect humans from a neurological point of view might would be a very interesting study. Great post!
ReplyDeleteMax Liner
I really liked this article, especially since I had no idea these pheromones could affect humans so greatly. I would definitely love to see more research done on this subject.
ReplyDeletePosted by Lindsey Janof
Great post Samuel! I like the fact that we might able to receive sexual pheromones and be stimulated different perceptions of sexuality. I know that perfume industry has induced pheromone, which can attract males. Do you know if there is any other use of these pheromones in science or industry?
ReplyDeleteBy Yim Hui
This website has a nice list of where you can see pheromones used in industry. http://www.macalester.edu/academics/psychology/whathap/ubnrp/pheromone10/pheromone%20industry.html
DeleteGreat article sam, one question I have is why do you think a majority of humans lack this organ?
ReplyDeletePosted by Jacob Geier
Many scientists believe that the organ disappears in humans during fetal development. It isn't 100% proven and there are continuous studies that are trying to determine whether or not we actually have this organ/ if it is fully functional.
DeleteI wonder why 70% of people lack this organ? Is the 30% of people evenly distributed throughout the world, or is it more localized?
ReplyDelete-JE
There are still continuous studies researching whether or not we have this organ. I'm not sure how evenly it is distributed around the world.
Delete70% is not a small number, and what we can learn more, the program's research scientists can help a lot for what is more improved.
ReplyDelete