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Chem Senses

Title:		Smelling chemosensory signals of males in anxious versus nonanxious condition increases state anxiety of female subjects
Author(s):		Albrecht J; Demmel M; Schopf V; Kleemann AM; Kopietz R; May J; Schreder T; Zernecke R; Bruckmann H; Wiesmann M;
Address:		"Monell Chemical Senses Center, 3500 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3308, USA. jalbrecht@monell.org"
Journal Title:		Chem Senses
Year:		2011
Volume:		20101007
Issue:		1
Page Number:		19 - 27
DOI:		10.1093/chemse/bjq087
ISSN/ISBN:		1464-3553 (Electronic) 0379-864X (Linking)
Abstract:		"The hypothesis of this experiment was that humans in an anxious state compared with a nonanxious state are able to increase anxiety levels in other humans via their body odors. Specifically, we hypothesized that male chemosensory anxiety signals compared with neutral chemosignals increase state anxiety of female subjects. Thirteen male subjects participated in 2 different sweat donation sessions: chemosignals were collected during participation in a high rope course (anxiety condition) and in an ergometer workout (neutral condition). State and trait anxiety were evaluated in 20 female odor recipients using Spielberger's state-trait anxiety inventory in a double-blind design. Comparison of state anxiety of odor donors between control and anxiety condition differed significantly indicating that our model of anxiety induction successfully led to the expected change in emotion. Comparison of state anxiety of odor recipients showed a trend toward higher state anxiety in the anxiety condition compared with the neutral condition after 5 min of odor exposure. After 20 min of odor exposure, state anxiety of female subjects was significantly higher during the perception of sweat collected during the anxiety condition in comparison with the perception of sweat collected during the neutral condition. This experiment gives evidence that male anxiety chemosignals compared with neutral chemosignals are capable of inducing an increased state anxiety in female subjects"
Keywords:		"Adult Anxiety/*etiology Emotions Female Humans Male Pheromones, Human/*physiology *Smell *Stimulation, Chemical Stress, Psychological/etiology Sweat/chemistry Young Adult;"
Notes:		"MedlineAlbrecht, Jessica Demmel, Maria Schopf, Veronika Kleemann, Anna Maria Kopietz, Rainer May, Johanna Schreder, Tatjana Zernecke, Rebekka Bruckmann, Hartmut Wiesmann, Martin eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2010/10/12 Chem Senses. 2011 Jan; 36(1):19-27. doi: 10.1093/chemse/bjq087. Epub 2010 Oct 7"