title: The potential hedonic role of olfaction in sexual selection and its dominance in visual cross-modal interactions.
abstract: Perfumes are commonly used to cover body odour, or to provide a positive, attracting, and interesting impact, or a smell that belongs to a social group. A role in sexual communication of such non-pheromonal olfactory cues has been suggested in the literature. However, there remain the questions whether these stimuli are involved in human chemosexual communication and, if so, at what level, and whether they interact with other sensorial modalities, in particular vision. To answer these, we investigated the influence of male and female perfumes as nonconscious stimulation during visual assessments of a range of facial qualities across and within the sexes. The female subjects were in their ovulatory phase, to avoid changes in perception across the menstrual cycle. Our data indicate that non-pheromonal olfactory cues are potentially involved in mate choice and may elicit strong hedonic responses that can dominate visual signs, with a cross-modal interaction.
authors.affiliation: Sensorial Physiology Unit, Institute for Advanced Biomedical Technologies, Foundation University G. d'Annunzio, via dei Vestini, I 66013 Chieti, Italy.
authors.forename: Ottavia
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Capparuccini
authors.forename: Christopher P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Berrie
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mazzatenta
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001504:Beauty; D003463:Cues; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008597:Menstrual Cycle; D010476:Perfume; D049049:Pheromones, Human / Q000502:physiology*; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010476:Perfume; D049049:Pheromones, Human