Health

Women Can Smell a Man's Intentions

by Blue Crush | January 10, 2009 at 11:05 pm

488 views | 32 Recommendations | 10 comments

Recent research has shown that socio-emotional meanings, including sexual ones, are conveyed in human sweat. Researchers at the Rice University in Texas found that women can subconsciously sniff out men who are attracted to them.

Scientists have long debated whether humans, like animals, use chemical signals called pheromones to communicate sexual interest to potential mates. Problem is, the effects of pheromones are thought to be subconscious — meaning that if we do communicate using them, we sure don't know it. It's also hard to know what these pheromones might be and how we sense them, so researchers understand little about them.

But if human pheromones are going to be anywhere, they're going to be in sweat, right? Denise Chen, a psychologist at Rice University in Houston, and her colleagues devised an experiment to compare how women respond to different forms of male sweat — sweat produced in everyday situations versus that produced when a man is turned on.

"The sexual sweat lit up different regions of the women's brains," Chen said. She said the work suggests the brain can recognize an emotional component in sexual sweat, differentiating it from normal sweat.

The findings bolster the idea that humans do communicate via subconscious chemical signals, notes Chen in her study, which was published in the Dec. 31 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. Our sexual intentions, in other words, may be a lot clearer than we ever intended them to be. That crush you have on your co-worker? She may already know — at least subconsciously.

The understanding of human smell at the neural level is still at the beginning stage. The present work is the first functional MRI study of human social chemosignals.

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Paschen

at 04:30 on January 11th, 2009

I do have my doubts about that. Interesting though.

poor oligarch (not verified)

at 09:05 on January 11th, 2009

The science I'd like to hear is whether natural &/or cosmetic anti-perspirants and deodourants suppress our natural senses in these areas?

158

at 09:24 on January 11th, 2009

Does this work both ways?

Roy C

at 10:16 on January 11th, 2009

Women's noses will find the odor of men whose genetics is complementary, in terms of disease resistance for their prospective young, appealing, while the odor of less complementary men will be found to be unappealing.

I read that in either in Marriage, A History or in Taking Sex Differences Seriously. I would bet it was the second book, and I will check later.

Birth control pills suppress women's ability to smell these odors, and women, according to the research, when they go off the pill, can find their husbands unappealing, if they have chosen someone they would have otherwise disdained, odor-wise.

sara star

at 11:59 on January 15th, 2009

I did not know that about birth control pills. No wonder I started making better choices after I got off them.

sara star

at 12:01 on January 15th, 2009

I smell a rat...

Terri Potratz

at 14:34 on January 12th, 2009

I wonder how colognes/fragrances come into play here, if it disrupts this process or adds a new dynamic..

Geneva B

at 14:41 on January 12th, 2009

I'm willing to bet synthetic, chemical-laden fragrances disrupt this but I'm sure some natural oils might be a nice enhancement....

Babel-Fish

at 06:14 on February 5th, 2009

This is not new news but of course its interesting, now its really got me thinking why are some young women attracted to older men?

Now I can prove that younger women are attracted to me because all three of my last relationships the girl was less than half my age at present my partner is 27 and I 62 I smoke and must smell terribly. Now I know its not my money as I am not rich and there is defiantly no gold and diamond give a way's.

Could it be when a woman meets a man she is looking at more than the scent of the man but at the attitude the humor and that caring ability that only is learned with age.

Or does after shave work as well? lol

My partner Ann says its my blue eyes and my smile that attracted her.