Smelling human sex hormone-like compounds affects face gender judgment of men.
Although strong cross-sensory interactions between visual, tactile and auditory modalities have already been shown, we know little about how chemosensory information affects processing in other sensory modalities. We studied whether smelling gender-specific odorous sex hormone-like steroids: 5-alpha-androgenst-16-en-3-one (androgen) or oestra-1, 3, 5 (10), 16-tetraen-3-ol (estrogen) can bias face gender discrimination. We found that, as a result of inhalation of androgen, men perceive faces to be more masculine as compared to when they are exposed to estrogen. Our results provide evidence for specific cross-sensory effects of the gender-specific chemosensory cues on the categorization of visual face gender.
Kovács
Gyula
G
Center for Cognitive Sciences, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, H-1111, Hungary.
Gulyás
Balázs
B
Savic
Ivanka
I
Perrett
David I
DI
Cornwell
R Elisabeth
RE
Little
Anthony C
AC
Jones
Ben C
BC
Burt
D Michael
DM
Gál
Viktor
V
Vidnyánszky
Zoltán
Z
D000328:Adult; D000728:Androgens / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D003463:Cues; D004967:Estrogens / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009833:Olfactory Pathways / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012903:Smell / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology
D000728:Androgens; D004967:Estrogens