Recent work has demonstrated that human body odour alters with changing emotional state and that emotionally laden odours can affect the physiology and behaviour of people exposed to them. Here we review these discoveries, which we believe add to a growing recognition that the human sense of smell and its potential role in social interactions have been underappreciated. However, we also critically evaluate the current evidence, with a particular focus on methodology and the interpretation of emotional odour studies. We argue that while the evidence convincingly indicates that humans retain a capacity for olfactory communication of emotion, the extent to which this occurs in ordinary social interaction remains an open question. Future studies should place fewer restrictions on participant selection and lifestyle and adopt more realistic experimental designs. We also need to devote more consideration to underlying mechanisms and to recognise the constraints that these may place on effective communication. Finally, we outline some promising approaches to address these issues, and raise some broader theoretical questions that such approaches may help us to answer.

Division of Psychology University of Stirling Stirling UK

Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Faculty of Science Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Institute of Psychology University of Wrocław Wrocław Poland

UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Penicuik UK

Zobrazit více v PubMed

Abel, E. L. (1991). Alarm substance emitted by rats in the forced swim test is a low volatile pheromone. Physiology & Behavior, 50, 723–727. 10.1016/0031-9384(91)90009-d PubMed DOI

Ackerl, K., Atzmueller, M., & Grammer, K. (2002). The scent of fear. Neuroendocrinology Letters, 23, 79–84. PubMed

Adolph, D., Meister, L., & Pause, B. M. (2013). Context counts! Social anxiety modulates the processing of fearful faces in the context of chemosensory anxiety signals. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 283. 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00283 PubMed DOI PMC

Adolph, D., Schlosser, S., Hawighorst, M., & Pause, B. M. (2010). Chemosensory signals of competition increase the skin conductance response in humans. Physiology & Behavior, 101(5), 666–671. 10.1016/j.physbeh.2010.08.004 PubMed DOI

Albrecht, J., Demmel, M., Schopf, V., Kleemann, A. M., Kopietz, R., May, J., … Wiesmann, M. (2011). Smelling chemosensory signals of males in anxious versus nonanxious condition increases state anxiety of female subjects. Chemical Senses, 36(1), 19–27. 10.1093/chemse/bjq087 PubMed DOI

Allen, C., Cobey, K. D., Havlíček, J., & Roberts, S. C. (2016). The impact of artificial fragrances on the assessment of mate quality cues in body odor. Evolution & Human Behavior, 37(6), 481–489. 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.05.001 DOI

Allen, C., Havlíček, J., & Roberts, S. C. (2015). Effect of fragrance use on discrimination of individual body odor. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1115. 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01115 PubMed DOI PMC

Barrett, L. F. (2017). The theory of constructed emotion: An active inference account of interoception and categorization. Social Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience, 12(1), 1–23. 10.1093/scan/nsw154 PubMed DOI PMC

Barrett, L. F., Mesquita, B., & Gendron, M. (2011). Context in emotion perception. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20(5), 286–290. 10.1177/0963721411422522 DOI

Bigalke, R. C. (1972). Observations on the behaviour and feeding habits of the springbok, Antidorcas marsupialis. Zoologica Africana, 7(1), 333–359. 10.1080/00445096.1972.11447448 DOI

Brown, G. E., Adrian, J. C., Smyth, E., Leet, H., & Brennan, S. (2000). Ostariophysan alarm pheromones: Laboratory and field tests of the functional significance of nitrogen oxides. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 26(1), 139–154. 10.1023/A:1005445629144 DOI

Calvi, E., Quassolo, U., Massaia, M., Scandurra, A., D'Aniello, B., & D'Amelio, P. (2020). The scent of emotions: A systematic review of human intra- and interspecific chemical communication of emotions. Brain & Behavior, 10(5), e01585. 10.1002/brb3.1585 PubMed DOI PMC

Chen, D., & Haviland-Jones, J. (2000). Human olfactory communication of emotion. Perceptual & Motor Skills, 91(3), 771–781. PubMed

Chen, D., Katdare, A., & Lucas, N. (2006). Chemosignals of fear enhance cognitive performance in humans. Chemical Senses, 31(5), 415–423. 10.2466/pms.2000.91.3.771 PubMed DOI

Cohen, J. (1992). A power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112(1), 155–159. 10.1037//0033-2909.112.1.155 PubMed DOI

Dalton, P., Mauté, C., Jaén, C., & Wilson, T. (2013). Chemosignals of stress influence social judgments. PLoS One, 8(10), e77144. 10.1371/journal.pone.0077144 PubMed DOI PMC

D'Aniello, B., Semin, G. R., Alterisio, A., Aria, M., & Scandurra, A. (2018). Interspecies transmission of emotional information via chemosignals: From humans to dogs (Canis lupus familiaris). Animal Cognition, 21(1), 67–78. 10.1007/s10071-017-1139-x PubMed DOI

Darwin, C. (1871). The descent of man and selection in relation to sex. John Murray.

Darwin, C. R. (1872). The expression of the emotions in man and animals. John Murray.

de Groot, J. H. B., Semin, G. R., & Smeets, M. A. M. (2014). I can see, hear, and smell your fear: Comparing olfactory and audiovisual media in fear communication. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(2), 825–834. 10.1037/a0033731 PubMed DOI

de Groot, J. H. B., Kirk, P., & Gottfried, J. (2020). Encoding fear intensity in human sweat. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 375, 20190271. 10.1098/rstb.2019.0271 PubMed DOI PMC

de Groot, J. H. B., Smeets, M. A. M., & Semin, G. R. (2015a). Rapid stress system drives chemical transfer of fear from sender to receiver. PLoS One, 10(2), e0118211. 10.1371/journal.pone.0118211 PubMed DOI PMC

de Groot, J. H. B., Kirk, P. A., & Gottfried, J. A. (2021). Titrating the smell of fear: Initial evidence for dose-invariant behavioral, physiological, and neural responses. Psychological Science, 32(4), 558–572. 10.1177/0956797620970548 PubMed DOI PMC

de Groot, J. H. B., Semin, G. R., & Smeets, M. A. M. (2017). On the communicative function of body odors: A theoretical integration and review. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12(2), 306–324. 10.1177/1745691616676599 PubMed DOI

de Groot, J. H. B., & Smeets, M. A. M. (2017). Human fear chemosignaling: Evidence from a meta-analysis. Chemical Senses, 42(8), 663–673. 10.1093/chemse/bjx049 PubMed DOI

de Groot, J. H. B., Smeets, M. A. M., Kaldewaij, A., Duijndam, M. J. A., & Semin, G. R. (2012). Chemosignals communicate human emotions. Psychological Science, 23(11), 1417–1424. 10.1177/0956797612445317 PubMed DOI

de Groot, J. H. B., Smeets, M. A. M., Rowson, M. J., Bulsing, P. J., Blonk, C. G., Wilkinson, J. E., & Semin, G. R. (2015b). A sniff of happiness. Psychological Science, 26(6), 684–700. 10.1177/0956797614566318 PubMed DOI

de Groot, J. H. B., van Houtum, L. A. E. M., Gortemaker, I., Ye, Y., Chen, W., Zhou, W., & Smeets, M. A. M. (2018). Beyond the west: Chemosignaling of emotions transcends ethno-cultural boundaries. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 98, 177–185. 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.08.005 PubMed DOI

Doty, R. L., Orndorff, M. M., Leyden, J., & Kligman, A. (1978). Communication of gender from human axillary odors: Relationship to perceived intensity and hedonicity. Behavioral Biology, 23(3), 373–380. 10.1016/s0091-6773(78)91393-7 PubMed DOI

Ekman, P. (1992). An argument for basic emotions. Cognition & Emotion, 6(3–4), 169–200. 10.1080/02699939208411068 DOI

Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1971). Constants across cultures in the face and emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 17(2), 124–129. 10.1037/h0030377 PubMed DOI

Ekman, P., Friesen, W. V., O'Sullivan, M., Chan, A., Diacoyanni-Tarlatzis, I., Heider, K., … Tzavaras, A. (1987). Universals and cultural differences in the judgments of facial expressions of emotion. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 53(4), 712–717. 10.1037/0022-3514.53.4.712 PubMed DOI

Elfenbein, H. A., & Ambady, N. (2002). On the universality and cultural specificity of emotion recognition: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 128(2), 203–235. 10.1037/0033-2909.128.2.203 PubMed DOI

Endevelt-Shapira, Y., Perl, O., Ravia, A., Amir, D., Eisen, A., Bezalel, V., … Sobel, N. (2018). Altered responses to social chemosignals in autism spectrum disorder. Nature Neuroscience, 21(1), 111–119. 10.1038/s41593-017-0024-x PubMed DOI

Ferdenzi, C., Ortegón, S., Delplanque, S., Baldovini, N., & M, B. (2020). Interdisciplinary challenges for elucidating human olfactory attractiveness. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 375(1800), 20190268. 10.1098/rstb.2019.0268 PubMed DOI PMC

Ferreira, J., Parma, V., Alho, L., Silva, C. F., & Soares, S. C. (2018). Emotional body odors as context: Effects on cardiac and subjective responses. Chemical Senses, 43(5), 347–355. 10.1093/chemse/bjy021 PubMed DOI

Ferrero, D. M., Moeller, L. M., Osakada, T., Horio, N., Li, Q., Roy, D. S., … Liberles, S. D. (2013). A juvenile mouse pheromone inhibits sexual behaviour through the vomeronasal system. Nature, 502(7471), 368–371. 10.1038/nature12579 PubMed DOI PMC

Fialová, J., & Havlíček, J. (2012). Perception of emotion-related odours in humans. Anthropologie, 50, 95–110.

Fialová, J., Roberts, S. C., & Havlíček, J. (2016). Consumption of garlic positively affects hedonic perception of axillary body odour. Appetite, 97, 8–15. 10.1016/j.appet.2015.11.001 PubMed DOI

Fialová, J., Sorokowska, A., Roberts, S. C., Kubicová, L., & Havlíček, J. (2018). Human body odour composites are not perceived more positively than the individual samples. i-Perception, 9(3), 2041669518766367. 10.1177/2041669518766367 PubMed DOI PMC

Flood, P. (1985). Sources of significant smells: The skin and other organs. In Brown, R. E., & Macdonald D. W. (Eds.), Social odours in mammals (pp. 19–36). Oxford Science.

Funder, D. C., & Ozer, D. J. (2019). Evaluating effect size in psychological research: Sense and nonsense. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 2(2), 156–168. 10.1177/2515245919847202 DOI

Gaby, J. M., & Zayas, V. (2017). Smelling is telling: Human olfactory cues influence social judgments in semi-realistic interactions. Chemical Senses, 42(5), 405–418. 10.1093/chemse/bjx012 PubMed DOI

Gelstein, S., Yeshurun, Y., Rozenkrantz, L., Shushan, S., Frumin, I., Roth, Y., & Sobel, N. (2011). Human tears contain a chemosignal. Science, 331(6014), 226–230. 10.1126/science.1198331 PubMed DOI

Gračanin, A., Bylsma, L. M., & Vingerhoets, A. J. J. M. (2018). Why only humans shed emotional tears. Human Nature, 29(2), 104–133. 10.1007/s12110-018-9312-8 PubMed DOI

Gračanin, A., van Assen, M. A. L. M., Omrčen, V., Koraj, I., & Vingerhoets, A. J. J. M. (2017). Chemosignalling effects of human tears revisited: Does exposure to female tears decrease males’ perception of female sexual attractiveness? Cognition & Emotion, 31(1), 139–150. 10.1080/02699931.2016.1151402 PubMed DOI

Grafen, A. (1984). Natural selection, kin selection and group selection. In Krebs, J. R., & Davies, N. B. (Eds.), Behavioural ecology (2nd ed., pp. 62–84). Blackwell Scientific.

Haegler, K., Zernecke, R., Kleemann, A. M., Albrecht, J., Pollatos, O., Brückmann, H., & Wiesmann, M. (2010). No fear no risk! Human risk behavior is affected by chemosensory anxiety signals. Neuropsychologia, 48(13), 3901–3908. 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.09.019 PubMed DOI

Haviland-Jones, J. M., McGuire, T. R., & Wilson, P. (2016). Testing for individual differences in the identification of chemosignals for fear and happy: Phenotypic super-detectors, detectors and non-detectors. PLoS One, 11(5), e0154495–e0154495. 10.1371/journal.pone.0154495 PubMed DOI PMC

Havlíček, J., Dvořáková, R., Bartoš, L., & Flegr, J. (2006). Non-advertized does not mean concealed: Body odour changes across the human menstrual cycle. Ethology, 112(1), 81–90. 10.1111/j.1439-0310.2006.01125.x DOI

Havlicek, J., Saxton, T. K., Roberts, S. C., Jozifkova, E., Lhota, S., Valentova, J., & Flegr, J. (2008). He sees, she smells? Male and female reports of sensory reliance in mate choice and non-mate choice contexts. Personality & Individual Differences, 45(6), 565–570. 10.1016/j.paid.2008.06.019 DOI

Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). The weirdest people in the world? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33(2–3), 61–83. 10.1017/S0140525X0999152X PubMed DOI

Jack, R. E., & Schyns, P. G. (2015). The human face as a dynamic tool for social communication. Current Biology, 25, R621–R634. 10.1016/j.cub.2015.05.052 PubMed DOI

Kamiloglu, R. G., Smeets, M. A. M., de Groot, J. H. B., & Semin, G. R. (2018). Fear odor facilitates the detection of fear expressions over other negative expressions. Chemical Senses, 43(6), 419–426. 10.1093/chemse/bjy029 PubMed DOI

Kimoto, H., Haga, S., Sato, K., & Touhara, K. (2005). Sex-specific peptides from exocrine glands stimulate mouse vomeronasal sensory neurons. Nature, 437(7060), 898–901. 10.1038/nature04033 PubMed DOI

Kiyokawa, Y., Kikusui, T., Takeuchi, Y., & Mori, Y. (2004). Alarm pheromones with different functions are released from different regions of the body surface of male rats. Chemical Senses, 29(1), 35–40. 10.1093/chemse/bjh004 PubMed DOI

Kiyokawa, Y., Shimozuru, M., Kikusui, T., Takeuchi, Y., & Mori, Y. (2006). Alarm pheromone increases defensive and risk assessment behaviors in male rats. Physiology & Behavior, 87(2), 383–387. 10.1016/j.physbeh.2005.11.003 PubMed DOI

Lanata, A., Nardelli, M., Valenza, G., Baragli, P., D'Aniello, B., Alterisio, A., … Scilingo, E. (2018, 18–21 July 2018). A case for the interspecies transfer of emotions: A preliminary investigation on how humans odors modify reactions of the autonomic nervous system in horses. 40th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC). 10.1109/embc.2018.8512327 PubMed DOI

Lang, P. J., Bradley, M. M., & Cuthbert, B. N. (1990). Emotion, attention, and the startle reflex. Psychological Reviews, 97(3), 377–395. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0033-295X.97.3.377 PubMed

Langford, B., Nemitz, E., House, E., Phillips, G. J., Famulari, D., Davison, B., … Hewitt, C. N. (2010). Fluxes and concentrations of volatile organic compounds above central London, UK. Atmospheric Chemistry & Physics, 10(2), 627–645. 10.5194/acp-10-627-2010 DOI

Li, G., Roze, U., & Locke, D. C. (2004). Warning odor of the North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum). Journal of Chemical Ecology, 23, 2737–2754. 10.1023/A:1022511026529 DOI

Li, W., Moallem, I., Paller, K. A., & Gottfried, J. A. (2007). Subliminal smells can guide social preferences. Psychological Science, 18, 1044–1049. 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.02023.x PubMed DOI

Lorenz, K. Z. (1966). Evolution of ritualization in the biological and cultural spheres. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 251, 273–284. 10.1098/rstb.1966.0011 DOI

Lübke, K. T., Busch, A., Hoenen, M., Schaal, B., & Pause, B. M. (2017). Chemosensory anxiety signals prime defensive behavior in prepubertal girls. Physiology & Behavior, 173, 30–33. 10.1016/j.physbeh.2017.01.035 PubMed DOI

Martin, A., Saathoff, M., Kuhn, F., Max, H., Terstegen, L., & Natsch, A. (2010). A functional ABCC11 allele is essential in the biochemical formation of human axillary odor. Journal of Investigative Dermatology, 130(2), 529–540. 10.1038/jid.2009.254 PubMed DOI

Martinec Nováková, L., Havlíček, J., & Roberts, S. C. (2014). Olfactory processing and odor specificity: A meta-analysis of menstrual cycle variation in olfactory sensitivity. Anthropological Review, 77, 331–345. 10.2478/anre-2014-0024 DOI

Martins, Y., Preti, G., Crabtree, C. R., Runyan, T., Vainius, A. A., & Wysocki, C. J. (2005). Preference for human body odors is influenced by gender and sexual orientation. Psychological Science, 16(9), 694–701. 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2005.01598.x PubMed DOI

Mathuru, A., Kibat, C., Cheong, W., Shui, G., Wenk, M., Friedrich, R., & Jesuthasan, S. (2012). Chondroitin fragments are odorants that trigger fear behavior in fish. Current Biology, 22(6), 538–544. 10.1016/j.cub.2012.01.061 PubMed DOI

Maynard Smith, J., & Harper, D. (2003). Animal signals. Oxford University Press.

Mitchell, G. (2012). Revisiting truth or triviality: The external validity of research in the psychological laboratory. Perspectives in Psychological Science, 7(2), 109–117. 10.1177/1745691611432343 PubMed DOI

Mitro, S., Gordon, A. R., Olsson, M. J., & Lundström, J. N. (2012). The smell of age: Perception and discrimination of body odors of different ages. PLoS One, 7(5), e38110. 10.1371/journal.pone.0038110 PubMed DOI PMC

Moy, R. F. (1970). Histology of the subauricular and rump glands of the pronghorn (Antilocapra americana Ord.). American Journal of Anatomy, 129, 65–88. 10.1002/aja.1001290106 PubMed DOI

Mujica-Parodi, L., Strey, H., Frederick, B., Savoy, R., Cox, D., Botanov, Y., … Weber, J. (2009). Chemosensory cues to conspecific emotional stress activate amygdala in humans. PLoS One, 4(7), e6415. 10.1371/journal.pone.0006415 PubMed DOI PMC

Mutic, S., Parma, V., Brünner, Y. F., & Freiherr, J. (2016). You smell dangerous: Communicating fight responses through human chemosignals of aggression. Chemical Senses, 41, 35–43. 10.1093/chemse/bjv058 PubMed DOI

Natsch, A., & Emter, R. (2020). The specific biochemistry of human axilla odour formation viewed in an evolutionary context. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 375(1800), 20190269. 10.1098/rstb.2019.0269 PubMed DOI PMC

Nelson, N. L., & Russell, J. A. (2013). Universality revisited. Emotion Review, 5(1), 8–15. 10.1177/1754073912457227 DOI

Oh, T. J., Kim, M. Y., Park, K. S., & Cho, Y. M. (2012). Effects of chemosignals from sad tears and postprandial plasma on appetite and food intake in humans. PLoS One, 7(8), e42352. 10.1371/journal.pone.0042352 PubMed DOI PMC

Pause, B., Ohrt, A., Prehn, A., & Ferstl, R. (2004). Positive emotional priming of facial affect perception in females is diminished by chemosensory anxiety signals. Chemical Senses, 29(9), 797–805. 10.1093/chemse/bjh245 PubMed DOI

Pause, B. M., Adolph, D., Prehn-Kristensen, A., & Ferstl, R. (2009). Startle response potentiation to chemosensory anxiety signals in socially anxious individuals. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 74(2), 88–92. 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2009.07.008 PubMed DOI

Pause, B. M., Lübke, K., Laudien, J. H., & Ferstl, R. (2010). Intensified neuronal investment in the processing of chemosensory anxiety signals in non-socially anxious and socially anxious individuals. PLoS One, 5(4), e10342. 10.1371/journal.pone.0010342 PubMed DOI PMC

Pfeiffer, W., & Riegelbauer, G. (1978). The effect of the alarm substance on the central nervous excitation of the Black Tetra Gymnocorymbus ternetzi (Characidae, Ostariophysi, Pisces) indicated by dorsal light response. Journal of Comparative & Physiological Psychology, 123, 281–288.

Prehn, A., Ohrt, A., Sojka, B., Ferstl, R., & Pause, B. M. (2006). Chemosensory anxiety signals augment the startle reflex in humans. Neuroscience Letters, 394(2), pp. 127–130. 10.1016/j.neulet.2005.10.012 PubMed DOI

Prehn-Kristensen, A., Wiesner, C., Bergmann, T., Wolff, S., Jansen, O., Mehdorn, H., … Pause, B. (2009). Induction of empathy by the smell of anxiety. PLoS One, 4(6), e5987. 10.1371/journal.pone.0005987 PubMed DOI PMC

Preti, G., Dalton, P., & Maute, C. (2019). Analytical identification of stress odors from human breath. Homeland Defense and Security Information Analysis Center, 6(3), 10–15.

Radulescu, A. R., & Mujica-Parodi, L. R. (2013). Human gender differences in the perception of conspecific alarm chemosensory cues. PLoS One, 8(7). 10.1371/journal.pone.0068485 PubMed DOI PMC

Roberts, S. C., Havlíček, J., & Schaal, B. (2020a). Human olfactory communication: Current challenges and future prospects. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 375(1800), 20190258. 10.1098/rstb.2019.0258 PubMed DOI PMC

Roberts, S. C., Misztal, P. K., & Langford, B. (2020b). Decoding the social volatilome by tracking rapid context-dependent odour change. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 375(1800), 20190259. 10.1098/rstb.2019.0259 PubMed DOI PMC

Rocha, M., Parma, V., Lundström, J. N., & Soares, S. C. (2018). Anxiety body odors as context for dynamic faces: Categorization and psychophysiological biases. Perception, 47(10–11), 1054–1069. 10.1177/0301006618797227 PubMed DOI

Rottman, S. J., & Snowdon, C. T. (1972). Demonstration and analysis of an alarm pheromone in mice. Journal of Comparative & Physiological Psychology, 81, 483–490. 10.1037/h0033703 PubMed DOI

Rubin, D., Botanov, Y., Hajcak, G., & Mujica-Parodi, L. R. (2012). Second-hand stress: Inhalation of stress sweat enhances neural response to neutral faces. Social Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience, 7(2), 208–212. 10.1093/scan/nsq097 PubMed DOI PMC

Sabiniewicz, A., Tarnowska, K., Świątek, R., Sorokowski, P., & Laska, M. (2020). Olfactory-based interspecific recognition of human emotions: Horses (Equus ferus caballus) can recognize fear and happiness body odour from humans (Homo sapiens). Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 230, 105072. 10.1016/j.applanim.2020.105072 DOI

Shanas, U., & Terkel, J. (1997). Mole-rat harderian gland secretions inhibit aggression. Animal Behaviour, 54(5), 1255–1263. 10.1006/anbe.1997.0533 PubMed DOI

Shariff, A. F., & Tracy, J. L. (2011). What are emotion expressions for? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20(6), 395–399. 10.1177/0963721411424739 DOI

Silva, F., Gomes, N., Korb, S., & Semin, G. R. (2020). Not all emotions are equal: Fear chemosignals lower awareness thresholds only for fearful faces. Chemical Senses, 45(7), 601–608. 10.1093/chemse/bjaa047 PubMed DOI

Singh, D., & Bronstad, P. M. (2001). Female body odour is a potential cue to ovulation. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 268(1469), 797–801. 10.1098/rspb.2001.1589 PubMed DOI PMC

Singh, P. B., Young, A., Lind, S., Leegaard, M. C., Capuozzo, A., & Parma, V. (2018). Smelling anxiety chemosignals impairs clinical performance of dental students. Chemical Senses, 43, 411–417. 10.1093/chemse/bjy028 PubMed DOI

Siniscalchi, M., d'Ingeo, S., & Quaranta, A. (2016). The dog nose ‘KNOWS’ fear: Asymmetric nostril use during sniffing at canine and human emotional stimuli. Behavioural Brain Research, 304(5), 34–41. 10.1016/j.bbr.2016.02.011 PubMed DOI

Smeets, M. A. M., Rosing, E. A. E., Jacobs, D. M., van Velzen, E., Koek, J. H., Blonk, C., … Semin, G. R. (2020). Chemical fingerprints of emotional body odor. Metabolites, 10(3), 84. 10.3390/metabo10030084 PubMed DOI PMC

Sobel, N. (2017). Revisiting the revisit: Added evidence for a social chemosignal in human emotional tears. Cognition & Emotion, 31(1), 151–157. 10.1080/02699931.2016.1177488 PubMed DOI PMC

Sorokowska, A., Schriever, V. A., Gudziol, V., Hummel, C., Hähner, A., Iannilli, E., … Hummel, T. (2015). Changes of olfactory abilities in relation to age: Odor identification in more than 1400 people aged 4 to 80 years. European Archives of Oto-rhino-laryngology, 272(8), 1937–1944. 10.1007/s00405-014-3263-4 PubMed DOI PMC

Sorokowska, A., Sorokowski, P., & Havlíček, J. (2016). Body odor based personality judgments: The effect of fragranced cosmetics. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 530. 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00530 PubMed DOI PMC

Sorokowska, A., Sorokowski, P., Hilpert, P., Cantarero, K., Frackowiak, T., Ahmadi, K., … Pierce, J. D. (2017). Preferred interpersonal distances: A global comparison. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 48(4), 577–592. 10.1177/0022022117698039 DOI

Sorokowski, P., Karwowski, M., Misiak, M., Marczak, M. K., Dziekan, M., Hummel, T., & Sorokowska, A. (2019). Sex differences in human olfaction: A meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 242. 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00242 PubMed DOI PMC

Thompson, R. N., Napier, A., & Wekesa, K. S. (2007). Chemosensory cues from the lacrimal and preputial glands stimulate production of IP3 in the vomeronasal organ and aggression in male mice. Physiology & Behavior, 90(5), 797–802. 10.1016/j.physbeh.2007.01.008 PubMed DOI PMC

Valenta, J. G., & Rigby, M. K. (1968). Discrimination of the odor of stressed rats. Science, 161, 599–601. 10.1126/science.161.3841.599 PubMed DOI

von Frisch, K. (1938). Zur Psychologie des Fisch-Schwarmes. Naturwissenschaften, 26(37), 601–606. 10.1007/BF01590598 DOI

Williams, J., Stönner, C., Wicker, J., Krauter, N., Derstroff, B., Bourtsoukidis, E., … Kramer, S. (2016). Cinema audiences reproducibly vary the chemical composition of air during films, by broadcasting scene specific emissions on breath. Scientific Reports, 6, 25464. 10.1038/srep25464 PubMed DOI PMC

Wilson, E. O. (1975). Enemy specification in the alarm-recruitment system of an ant. Science, 190(4216), 798–800. 10.1126/science.1198097 PubMed DOI

Wudarczyk, O. A., Kohn, N., Bergs, R., Goerlich, K. S., Gur, R. E., Turetsky, B., … Habel, U. (2016). Chemosensory anxiety cues enhance the perception of fearful faces – An fMRI study. In Neuroimage, 143, 214–222. 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.09.002 PubMed DOI

Wudarczyk, O. A., Kohn, N., Bergs, R., Gur, R. E., Turetsky, B., Schneider, F., … Habel, U. (2015). Chemosensory anxiety cues moderate the experience of social exclusion – An fMRI investigation with Cyberball. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1475. 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01475 PubMed DOI PMC

Zalaquett, C., & Thiessen, D. (1991). The effects of odors from stressed mice on conspecific behaviour. Physiology and Behavior, 50(1), 221–227. 10.1016/0031-9384(91)90524-r PubMed DOI

Zernecke, R., Haegler, K., Kleemann, A. M., Albrecht, J., Frank, T., Linn, J., … Wiesmann, M. (2011). Effects of male anxiety chemosignals on the evaluation of happy facial expressions. Journal of Psychophysiology, 25(3), 116–123. 10.1027/0269-8803/a000047 DOI

Zhou, W., & Chen, D. (2009). Fear-related chemosignals modulate recognition of fear in ambiguous facial expressions. Psychological Science, 20(2), 177–183. 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02263.x PubMed DOI

Zhou, W., & Chen, D. (2011). Entangled chemosensory emotion and identity: Familiarity enhances detection of chemosensorily encoded emotion. Social Neuroscience, 6(3), 270–276. 10.1080/17470919.2010.523537 PubMed DOI

The Context Matters: Women's Experiences of Their Partner's Odor in Intimate and Sexual Encounters