The areas covered are pharmacological effects and neuroendocrine responses, the conditioning of the immune and affective systems, odour memory, the direct influence of odour on mood and hedonics and finally social psychological aspects related to interactions with expectation, placebo and situations. At each level findings from pure research or clinical uses related to this research are described. Taken overall, the research lends substantial circumstantial support for novel therapeutic uses of olfactory stimuli, and point to a need for their formal clinical evaluation. Kluwer Academic Pubs., pp.385-406. In this paper the evidence for an olfactory communication system in man is examined.
Man is highly scented.
The axillary glands of human beings are larger and contain more apocrine glands than any other primate, and produce musky steroids for which there are matching olfactory receptors. Pheromonal-like responses to these compounds have been observed. The implications of learning and context on these responses are discussed. Perfumes contain compounds that are sexual attractants in other mammals and which resemble the musky steroids. Examples of the cultural transmission of social responses to these natural and synthetic odours across human cultures present and past are given.