title: Chemosensory anxiety signals prime defensive behavior in prepubertal girls.
abstract: Chemosensory anxiety signals effectively prime motor responses related to withdrawal behavior, such as the startle reflex, in adult humans. As the reproductive status strongly affects the response to social chemosignals, the current study examined whether chemosensory anxiety signals would augment the startle response in prepubertal children as it does in adults. Using cotton pads, axillary sweat was collected from 28 men while waiting for an important oral examination (anxiety condition), and during ergometer training (sport control condition). Using a constant-flow olfactometer, sweat samples and pure cotton samples (cotton control) were presented to 10 prepubertal girls aged 9-13years (M=11.25, SD=1.25) for 3000ms during inhalation. White noise bursts of 102dB(A) served as startle probes, and startle responses were recorded via electromyography of the orbicularis oculi muscle. The girls showed larger startle amplitudes to probes presented in the context of chemosensory anxiety signals as compared to a context of sport control sweat (p<0.01) as well as cotton control (p<0.05). This effect was not attributable to differences in stimulus detection rates or stimulus hedonics. The results show that in prepubertal girls, similar to adults, chemosensory anxiety signals prime defensive motor behavior. This effect appears unrelated to the odorous quality of anxiety sweat, but seems to reflect a specific preparedness to respond to the underlying social alarm signal. Thus, chemosensory communication supporting individual harm protection is independent of the reproductive status in humans.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Germany. Electronic address: katrin.luebke@hhu.de.
authors.forename: Katrin T
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Lübke
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Busch
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hoenen
authors.affiliation: Centre des Sciences du Goût, CNRS/Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France.
authors.forename: Benoist
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schaal
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Bettina M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Pause
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D001365:Axilla; D002648:Child; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009812:Odorants; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D013268:Stimulation, Chemical; D013546:Sweating / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Chemosensory anxiety; Chemosensory communication; Puberty; Sex hormones; Startle response