| Title: | The potential hedonic role of olfaction in sexual selection and its dominance in visual cross-modal interactions |
| Author(s): | Capparuccini O; Berrie CP; Mazzatenta A; |
| Address: | "Sensorial Physiology Unit, Institute for Advanced Biomedical Technologies, Foundation University G. d'Annunzio, via dei Vestini, I 66013 Chieti, Italy" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 0301-0066 (Print) 0301-0066 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Perfumes are commonly used to cover body odour, or to provide a positive, attracting, and interesting impact, or a smell that belongs to a social group. A role in sexual communication of such non-pheromonal olfactory cues has been suggested in the literature. However, there remain the questions whether these stimuli are involved in human chemosexual communication and, if so, at what level, and whether they interact with other sensorial modalities, in particular vision. To answer these, we investigated the influence of male and female perfumes as nonconscious stimulation during visual assessments of a range of facial qualities across and within the sexes. The female subjects were in their ovulatory phase, to avoid changes in perception across the menstrual cycle. Our data indicate that non-pheromonal olfactory cues are potentially involved in mate choice and may elicit strong hedonic responses that can dominate visual signs, with a cross-modal interaction" |
| Keywords: | "Adult Analysis of Variance *Beauty Cues Face Female Humans Male Menstrual Cycle *Perfume Pheromones, Human/*physiology Sexual Behavior/*physiology/psychology Smell/*physiology Visual Perception/*physiology Young Adult;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineCapparuccini, Ottavia Berrie, Christopher P Mazzatenta, Andrea eng Randomized Controlled Trial 2010/12/25 Perception. 2010; 39(10):1322-9. doi: 10.1068/p6736" |
