Human gender differences in the perception of conspecific alarm chemosensory cues.
It has previously been established that, in threatening situations, animals use alarm pheromones to communicate danger. There is emerging evidence of analogous chemosensory "stress" cues in humans. For this study, we collected alarm and exercise sweat from "donors," extracted it,...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2013-01-01
|
| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3722227?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1818317006512848896 |
|---|---|
| author | Anca R Radulescu Lilianne R Mujica-Parodi |
| author_facet | Anca R Radulescu Lilianne R Mujica-Parodi |
| author_sort | Anca R Radulescu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | It has previously been established that, in threatening situations, animals use alarm pheromones to communicate danger. There is emerging evidence of analogous chemosensory "stress" cues in humans. For this study, we collected alarm and exercise sweat from "donors," extracted it, pooled it and presented it to 16 unrelated "detector" subjects undergoing fMRI. The fMRI protocol consisted of four stimulus runs, with each combination of stimulus condition and donor gender represented four times. Because olfactory stimuli do not follow the canonical hemodynamic response, we used a model-free approach. We performed minimal preprocessing and worked directly with block-average time series and step-function estimates. We found that, while male stress sweat produced a comparably strong emotional response in both detector genders, female stress sweat produced a markedly stronger arousal in female than in male detectors. Our statistical tests pinpointed this gender-specificity to the right amygdala (strongest in the superficial nuclei). When comparing the olfactory bulb responses to the corresponding stimuli, we found no significant differences between male and female detectors. These imaging results complement existing behavioral evidence, by identifying whether gender differences in response to alarm chemosignals are initiated at the perceptual versus emotional level. Since we found no significant differences in the olfactory bulb (primary processing site for chemosensory signals in mammals), we infer that the specificity in responding to female fear is likely based on processing meaning, rather than strength, of chemosensory cues from each gender. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T09:30:28Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-76db3898e9de46468883b164d317256a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T09:30:28Z |
| publishDate | 2013-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-76db3898e9de46468883b164d317256a2022-12-21T23:52:30ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032013-01-0187e6848510.1371/journal.pone.0068485Human gender differences in the perception of conspecific alarm chemosensory cues.Anca R RadulescuLilianne R Mujica-ParodiIt has previously been established that, in threatening situations, animals use alarm pheromones to communicate danger. There is emerging evidence of analogous chemosensory "stress" cues in humans. For this study, we collected alarm and exercise sweat from "donors," extracted it, pooled it and presented it to 16 unrelated "detector" subjects undergoing fMRI. The fMRI protocol consisted of four stimulus runs, with each combination of stimulus condition and donor gender represented four times. Because olfactory stimuli do not follow the canonical hemodynamic response, we used a model-free approach. We performed minimal preprocessing and worked directly with block-average time series and step-function estimates. We found that, while male stress sweat produced a comparably strong emotional response in both detector genders, female stress sweat produced a markedly stronger arousal in female than in male detectors. Our statistical tests pinpointed this gender-specificity to the right amygdala (strongest in the superficial nuclei). When comparing the olfactory bulb responses to the corresponding stimuli, we found no significant differences between male and female detectors. These imaging results complement existing behavioral evidence, by identifying whether gender differences in response to alarm chemosignals are initiated at the perceptual versus emotional level. Since we found no significant differences in the olfactory bulb (primary processing site for chemosensory signals in mammals), we infer that the specificity in responding to female fear is likely based on processing meaning, rather than strength, of chemosensory cues from each gender.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3722227?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Anca R Radulescu Lilianne R Mujica-Parodi Human gender differences in the perception of conspecific alarm chemosensory cues. PLoS ONE |
| title | Human gender differences in the perception of conspecific alarm chemosensory cues. |
| title_full | Human gender differences in the perception of conspecific alarm chemosensory cues. |
| title_fullStr | Human gender differences in the perception of conspecific alarm chemosensory cues. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Human gender differences in the perception of conspecific alarm chemosensory cues. |
| title_short | Human gender differences in the perception of conspecific alarm chemosensory cues. |
| title_sort | human gender differences in the perception of conspecific alarm chemosensory cues |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3722227?pdf=render |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ancarradulescu humangenderdifferencesintheperceptionofconspecificalarmchemosensorycues AT liliannermujicaparodi humangenderdifferencesintheperceptionofconspecificalarmchemosensorycues |