Researchers at Rice University have demonstrated that the human brain recognizes and responds to other human chemical signals as a form of personal communication.Women volunteers were exposed to various scent samples, one of which was the sweat of sexually aroused men. When the volunteers' brains were examined under functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), they were found to process the scent in several parts of the brain, including the right fusiform region, the right orbitofrontal cortex and the right hypothalamus. Neither the fusiform region nor the orbitofrontal cortex is known to be associated with sexual behavior.
Known as chemosensory communication, scientists have long known that many animals communicate via chemical scent. This research shows that humans also communicate information at some level using an olfactory basis. More than a simple stimulus-response, the human brain was shown to react to the scent holistically instead of merely as a straightforward sexual signal.
This data was published in the December 31st issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
Photo: ScienceDaily
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