A single gene determines whether a whiff of androstadienone smells pleasant or foul, or like nothing at all. But researchers who last year discovered this genetic peculiarity were left wondering about its social implications.
In an effort to find out, the team has now launched a series of new studies including one that explores a different link: whether women’s perceptions of — and sensitivity to — androstadienone corresponds with their bodies’ physiological responses to it. This follow-up study, which specifically measures indices of emotional arousal and stress in ovulating women exposed to this chemical, a component of male sweat, may help the scientists better understand the role that genes play in social interaction.
“It has been shown that when women ovulate, their response to androstadienone is strongest,” says Andreas Keller, a postdoc in Leslie Vosshall’s Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior. “It is also a time when women are apt to reproduce.” By exposing ovulating women to androstadienone and measuring their physiological responses to it, Keller and Vosshall ultimately hope to figure out whether androstadienone, also a derivative of testosterone and potential social signal, affects how men and women interact with one another.
The study, the first in a series, will ultimately enroll 60 women, each of whom will complete four experimental test sessions within 48 hours of ovulation. While watching a relaxing video, these women will be periodically instructed to smell one of eight vials, which contain different concentrations of androstadienone, as well as a control odor and an odor present in oranges.
Throughout the 40-minute session, electrodes attached to the participants’ feet will measure skin temperature and skin conductance, a value from which the researchers can calculate how much each participant sweats. Before and after each of the four sessions, the researchers will also collect a sample of the participants’ saliva to measure their level of cortisol, a stress hormone.
The group has already shown that a person’s genotype affects their perception of a potential social signal communicated through scent. Now, it is trying to see whether this direct link between genotype and perception holds true between genotype, perception and physiology, and ultimately behavior.
Source: Rockefeller University
Related stories:
US culture derails girl math whizzes
A culture of neglect and, at some age levels, outright social ostracism, is derailing a generation of students, especially girls, deemed the very best in mathematics, according to a new study.
Many children attribute white male monopoly on White House to discrimination
A new study in the journal
Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy explored elementary-school-age children's views about the role of race and gender in the U.S. presidency, Results indicated that most children are aware that women and people of color have been excluded from the presidency. Further, many children attributed the lack of female, African American, and Latino presidents to gender and racial discrimination.
Siren voice means she's fertile
A woman raises the pitch of her voice during her most fertile period of the month in an unconscious boost to her femininity, according to a study published Wednesday in the British journal Biology Letters.
Soothing music significantly reduces stress, anxiety and depression during pregnancy
Music therapy can reduce psychological stress among pregnant women, according to research just published in a special complementary and alternative therapy medicine issue of the
Journal of Clinical Nursing.
Children aware of white male monopoly on White House
Challenging the idea that children live in a color or gender blind world, a new study from The University of Texas at Austin reveals most elementary-school-age children are aware there has been no female, African-American, or Hispanic President of the United States. And, many of the children attribute the lack of representation to discrimination.
New study indicates link between weight gains during pregnancy and dieting history
Women who have a history of dieting or other restricted eating practices are at risk of gaining an inappropriate amount of weight during pregnancy. In a study published in the October 2008 issue of the
Journal of the American Dietetic Association, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill report that restrained eating behaviors prior to pregnancy were associated with weight gains above the Institute of Medicine recommendations for normal, overweight and obese women, and weight gains below the recommendations for underweight women.
Researchers investigate impact of stress on police officers' physical and mental health
Policing is dangerous work, and the danger lurks not on the streets alone. The pressures of law enforcement put officers at risk for high blood pressure, insomnia, increased levels of destructive stress hormones, heart problems, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicide, University at Buffalo researchers have found through a decade of studies of police officers.
Social class dictates cancer risk
Cervical and lung cancer are more common in poor people while rates of breast cancer and melanoma are higher in the wealthy. A detailed analysis of the incidence of these four different kinds of cancer, carried out on more than 300,000 English cancer patients and published today in the open access journal
BMC Cancer, describes the effects of socioeconomic group, region and age.