title: The smell of death: evidence that putrescine elicits threat management mechanisms.
abstract: The ability to detect and respond to chemosensory threat cues in the environment plays a vital role in survival across species. However, little is known about which chemical compounds can act as olfactory threat signals in humans. We hypothesized that brief exposure to putrescine, a chemical compound produced by the breakdown of fatty acids in the decaying tissue of dead bodies, can function as a chemosensory warning signal, activating threat management responses (e.g., heightened alertness, fight-or-flight responses). This hypothesis was tested by gaging people's responses to conscious and non-conscious exposure to putrescine. In Experiment 1, putrescine increased vigilance, as measured by a reaction time task. In Experiments 2 and 3, brief exposure to putrescine (vs. ammonia and a scentless control condition) prompted participants to walk away faster from the exposure site. Experiment 3 also showed that putrescine elicited implicit cognitions related to escape and threat. Experiment 4 found that exposure to putrescine, presented here below the threshold of conscious awareness, increased hostility toward an out-group member. Together, the results are the first to indicate that humans can process putrescine as a warning signal that mobilizes protective responses to deal with relevant threats. The implications of these results are briefly discussed.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Kent , Canterbury, UK.
authors.forename: Arnaud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wisman
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral Sciences, Arkansas Tech University , Russellville, AR, USA.
authors.forename: Ilan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Shrira
keywords: chemosensory cue; olfaction; putrescine; threat; threat management