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Social Chemosignals: Human Communication Via Chemical Cues & Emissions

EnolaGaia

EnolaGaia

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Social chemosignals encompass a variety of ways in which humans communicate and / or influence each other via biochemical means. One example of social chemosignal operation is pheromones. However, chemosignaling isn't strictly limited to pheromone activity alone

Social Chemosignal

Synonyms
Social odor; Semiochemical; Sociochemical

Related terms:
Social olfaction; Social chemosensation; Chemical communication; Semiochemistry [2]; Sociochemistry

Definition
Social chemosignals encompass all types of stimulations exchanged among members of a given species and that are detected through the chemical senses (i.e., olfaction, vomerolfaction, taste, tarsal chemoreception). These are carried by chemicals derived from physiological processes and circumstantially learned as social cues, as well as by specialized signals, termed pheromones, which were evolutionarily selected for communicative purposes.

It should be noted that whereas all pheromones are social chemosignals, all social chemosignals are not pheromones. There is indeed a definitional confusion leading to the indiscriminate use of the pheromone concept to designate any communicative process involving odors. ...

SOURCE: Encyclopedia of Neuroscience
https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-540-29678-2_5488
 
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This 2012 ScienceDaily article describes research indicating humans can communicate emotions via chemical signals (chemosignals).
Smell you later! Chemosignals communicate human emotions

Many animal species transmit information via chemical signals, but the extent to which these chemosignals play a role in human communication is unclear. In a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, researcher Gün Semin and colleagues from Utrecht University in the Netherlands investigate whether we humans might actually be able to communicate our emotional states to each other through chemical signals. ...

These findings ... provide support for the embodied social-communication model, suggesting that chemosignals act as a medium through which people can be "emotionally synchronized" outside of conscious awareness.

The researchers acknowledge that these effects could very well contribute to the kind of emotional contagion that is often observed in situations involving dense crowds. ...
Click to expand...
FULL STORY: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121105140407.htm
 
Here are the bibliographic details and abstract for the published research report underlying the ScienceDaily article.

de Groot JHB, Smeets MAM, Kaldewaij A, Duijndam MJA, Semin GR.
Chemosignals Communicate Human Emotions.
Psychological Science. 2012;23(11):1417-1424.
doi:10.1177/0956797612445317

Abstract
Can humans communicate emotional states via chemical signals? In the experiment reported here, we addressed this question by examining the function of chemosignals in a framework furnished by embodied social communication theory. Following this theory, we hypothesized that the processes a sender experiences during distinctive emotional states are transmitted to receivers by means of the chemicals that the sender produces, thus establishing a multilevel correspondence between sender and receiver. In a double-blind experiment, we examined facial reactions, sensory-regulation processes, and visual search in response to chemosignals. We demonstrated that fear chemosignals generated a fearful facial expression and sensory acquisition (increased sniff magnitude and eye scanning); in contrast, disgust chemosignals evoked a disgusted facial expression and sensory rejection (decreased sniff magnitude, target-detection sensitivity, and eye scanning). These findings underline the neglected social relevance of chemosignals in regulating communicative correspondence outside of conscious access.

SOURCE: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797612445317
 
This 2015 article provides an overview of social chemosignals in human social activities.

Katrin T. Lübke, Bettina M. Pause,
Always follow your nose: The functional significance of social chemosignals in human reproduction and survival,
Hormones and Behavior, Volume 68, 2015, Pages 134-144, ISSN 0018-506X.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2014.10.001.

Abstract:
This article is part of a Special Issue “Chemosignals and Reproduction”

Across phyla, chemosensory communication is crucial for mediating a variety of social behaviors, which form the basis for ontogenetic and phylogenetic survival. In the present paper, evidence on chemosensory communication in humans, with special reference to reproduction and survival, will be presented. First, the impact of chemosignals on human reproduction will be reviewed. Work will be presented, showing how chemosensory signals are involved in mate choice and partnership formation by communicating attractiveness and facilitating a partner selection, which is of evolutionary advantage, and furthermore providing information about the level of sexual hormones. In addition to direct effects on phylogenetic survival, chemosignals indirectly aid reproductive success by fostering harm protection. Results will be presented, showing that chemosensory communication aids the emotional bond between mother and child, which in turn motivates parental caretaking and protection, leading to infant survival. Moreover, the likelihood of group survival can be increased through the use of stress-related chemosignals. Stress-related chemosignals induce a stress-related physiology in the perceiver, thereby priming a fight–flight-response, which is necessary for an optimum adaption to environmental harm. Finally, effects of sexual orientation on chemosensory communication will be discussed in terms of their putative role in stabilizing social groups, which might indirectly provide harm protection and foster survival. An integrative model of the presented data will be introduced. In conclusion, an outlook, focusing on the involvement of chemosensory communication in human social behavior and illustrating a novel approach to the significance of chemosensory signals in human survival, will be given.

Keywords: Anxiety; Body odors; Bonding; Chemosensory communication; Chemosignals; Mate choice; Olfaction; Pheromones; Sexual orientation; Stress

SOURCE: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0018506X14002128
 
This 2011 Science article reports research indicating human female tears act as a social chemosignal.

Human Tears Contain a Chemosignal
Shani Gelstein, Yaara Yeshurun, Liron Rozenkrantz, et al.
Science
14 Jan 2011, Vol 331, Issue 6014, pp. 226-230
DOI: 10.1126/science.1198331

Abstract
Emotional tearing is a poorly understood behavior that is considered uniquely human. In mice, tears serve as a chemosignal. We therefore hypothesized that human tears may similarly serve a chemosignaling function. We found that merely sniffing negative-emotion–related odorless tears obtained from women donors induced reductions in sexual appeal attributed by men to pictures of women’s faces. Moreover, after sniffing such tears, men experienced reduced self-rated sexual arousal, reduced physiological measures of arousal, and reduced levels of testosterone. Finally, functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed that sniffing women’s tears selectively reduced activity in brain substrates of sexual arousal in men.

SOURCE: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1198331

The full research report (PDF) can be accessed via ResearchGate:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/49734600_Human_Tears_Contain_a_Chemosignal
 
A biochemical found in human body odor serves as a social chemosignal that triggers aggressive behavior in women but an opposite - calming - effect in men.
Chemical in human body odor triggers aggression in women, but not men

Sniffing a chemical in human body odor blocks aggression in men but triggers it in women, an analysis published Friday by the journal Science Advances found.

The chemical in question, called hexadecanal, or HEX, is also emitted by infants when under stress, the researchers said. ...

This may be why the odor it produces leads to more aggressive behavior in women, as it taps into the maternal instinct to protect their offspring, according to the researchers.

At the same time, the HEX scent may also suppress male aggression by design, as it could put the child at risk. ...

The findings suggest that sex-specific differences in the human olfactory system result in divergent reactions to these "social odors," the researchers said. ...
Click to expand...
FULL STORY: https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2021/11/19/human-body-odor-aggression-study/9521637336622/
 
Here are the bibliographic details and abstract of the published report on the HEX chemosignal research.

Sniffing the human body volatile hexadecanal blocks aggression in men but triggers aggression in women
Eva Mishor, Daniel Amir, Tali Weiss, et al.
Science Advances
19 Nov 2021
Vol 7, Issue 47
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abg1530

Abstract
In terrestrial mammals, body volatiles can effectively trigger or block conspecific aggression. Here, we tested whether hexadecanal (HEX), a human body volatile implicated as a mammalian-wide social chemosignal, affects human aggression. Using validated behavioral paradigms, we observed a marked dissociation: Sniffing HEX blocked aggression in men but triggered aggression in women. Next, using functional brain imaging, we uncovered a pattern of brain activity mirroring behavior: In both men and women, HEX increased activity in the left angular gyrus, an area implicated in perception of social cues. HEX then modulated functional connectivity between the angular gyrus and a brain network implicated in social appraisal (temporal pole) and aggressive execution (amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex) in a sex-dependent manner consistent with behavior: increasing connectivity in men but decreasing connectivity in women. These findings implicate sex-specific social chemosignaling at the mechanistic heart of human aggressive behavior.

SOURCE / FULL ARTICLE: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abg1530
 
Sniffing a chemical in human body odor blocks aggression in men but triggers it in women, an analysis published Friday by the journal Science Advances found.

Chemical-in-human-body-odor-triggers-aggression-in-women-but-not-men.jpg


The chemical in question, called hexadecanal, or HEX, is also emitted by infants when under stress, the researchers said.

This may be why the odor it produces leads to more aggressive behavior in women, as it taps into the maternal instinct to protect their offspring, according to the researchers.

At the same time, the HEX scent may also suppress male aggression by design, as it could put the child at risk.

Although a study published in 2020 indicated that humans emit body odors related to aggression, it has not been known how human aggressive behavior may be affected by social chemical signals, the researchers said.

https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2021/11/19/human-body-odor-aggression-study/9521637336622/

maximus otter
 
I'm sure I cleared some hexadecanal out of the Corrosives cabinet a few months ago. No wonder I was so grumpy about it.
 
Baby please don't stop crying.

New research, published in PLOS Biology, shows that tears from women contain chemicals that block aggression in men. The study led by Shani Agron at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, finds that sniffing tears leads to reduced brain activity related to aggression, which results in less aggressive behavior.

Male aggression in rodents is known to be blocked when they smell female tears. This is an example of social chemosignaling, a process that is common in animals but less common—or less understood—in humans.

To determine whether tears have the same effect in people, the researchers exposed a group of men to either women's emotional tears or saline while they played a two-person game. The game was designed to elicit aggressive behavior against the other player, whom the men were led to believe was cheating.

When given the opportunity, the men could get revenge on the other player by causing them to lose money. The men did not know what they were sniffing and could not distinguish between the tears or the saline, which were both odorless.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-12-sniffing-women-aggressive-behavior-men.html
 
ramonmercado said:
Baby please don't stop crying.

New research, published in PLOS Biology, shows that tears from women contain chemicals that block aggression in men. The study led by Shani Agron at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, finds that sniffing tears leads to reduced brain activity related to aggression, which results in less aggressive behavior.

Male aggression in rodents is known to be blocked when they smell female tears. This is an example of social chemosignaling, a process that is common in animals but less common—or less understood—in humans.

To determine whether tears have the same effect in people, the researchers exposed a group of men to either women's emotional tears or saline while they played a two-person game. The game was designed to elicit aggressive behavior against the other player, whom the men were led to believe was cheating.

When given the opportunity, the men could get revenge on the other player by causing them to lose money. The men did not know what they were sniffing and could not distinguish between the tears or the saline, which were both odorless.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-12-sniffing-women-aggressive-behavior-men.html
Click to expand...
Wonder if they could synthesise this and spray it all over the Middle East?
 
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