| MadSci Network: Neuroscience |
Dear Jen,
Your question is very interesting but rather difficult to answer with a simple "yes or no" since there are many factors that may influence the discrimination of odours in humans. Moreover, our knowledge of olfactory and gustatory systems is very limited compared to other senses. Nonetheless, there are some laboratories that intensively research on how these sensory systems work. Amongst these, the Monell Chemical Senses Center (http://www.monell.org/) and the Taste and Smell Center at the University of Connecticut Health Center ( http ://www3.uchc.edu/~taste/index.html have web sites that will introduce you to these sensory systems. You can also see this review paper: Doty R.L., Studies of human olfaction from the University of Pennsylvania Smell and Taste Center, Chemical Senses 1997 ;22(5) :565-86.
It is known that genetic factors influence the perception of some odours. For example, androstenone is a scent produced by bacteria on the human body and which appears at a higher concentration in male sweat than in female. It has been shown that some people are anosmic to androstenone, which means they are insensitive to that specific odour. On the other hand, repetitive exposure to androstenone in anosmic people induces its olfactory perception in 80% of the cases (Moller R. et al. Zeitschrift fur Experimentelle Psychologie 1999 ;46(1) :53-9; Pause B.M. et al., Physiology & Behavior 1999 1-15 ;68(1-2):129-37). In such experiments, careful precautions have been made to exclude factors like shampoo, cologne, hair spray etc... in order to study how we can perceive body odours. Some experiments have also suggested that specific sets of genes may influence human mate choice since men and women who were reminded of their own mate/ex-mate when sniffing a T-shirt had significantly fewer genes of a certain type (MHC-alleles) in common with this T-shirt-wearer than expected by chance (Wedekind C. & Furi S. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London - Series B : Biological Sciences 1997 22 ;264 (1387) :1471-9). Sounds like we are attracted by our opposite...
Finally, some studies also suggest that new mothers are more attracted to the body odour of new born infants than are non mothers (Fleming A.S. et al., Hormones & Behavior 1997;32(2):85-98). These authors said that "...first- time mothers with higher cortisol concentrations were more attracted to their own infant’s body odour. Mothers with higher cortisol levels were also better able to recognise their own infants’ odours. While cortisol was not related to attitudinal measures of maternal responsiveness, mothers with more prior experience interacting with infants exhibited both more attraction to infant odours and more positive maternal attitudes." Like I said above, there are many factors that may influence our perception of odours.
Regards,
Eric
See also these related papers :
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