Genes, hormones and emotions: sources of body-odors and pheromones

Ferstl, R.
Klinische Psychologie, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel

Research in the last three decades revealed a number of behaviour mediating odors that can be traced back to immunogenetic polymorphism, humoral steroids or emotional arousal. Work of our own group started with animal research deconstructing MHC-related odors. Consecutive experiments proofed for the first time the expression of an analogous human odor which probably contributes to incest avoidance and kin recognition. Additional results demonstrate preference for places odorized by androsterone. Moreover emotional state dependent odor expression added to a model of multifactorial human scent production and perception. Respective effects are demonstrated in behavioural, psychophysiological and brain imaging studies as examples of different levels of odor-information processing.