Body odors offer a unique window into the physiological and psychological profile of the emitter. This information, broadcast in nonverbal communication, significantly shapes social interactions. However, effectively digitizing body odors requires a precise framework for perceptual operationalization. Previous research has used a very limited number of verbal terms, such as pleasant, intense, or attractive, which fails to adequately capture qualitative differences. To address this gap, we elicited body odor descriptions from 2,607 participants across 17 countries and 13 languages. All these descriptions are presented here in one dataset, together with a condensed list of 25 body odor words (BOW). Those terms reliably differentiated between body states, and were validated in a separate study with a different group of 155 perceivers. The dataset, available as a web application, provides a novel operationalization of body odor impressions, which is a precondition for studying olfaction in human nonverbal communication, for perception-based digitization of body odors and for comparative studies.

• MeSH
• čich * MeSH
• čichová percepce * MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• neverbální komunikace MeSH
• odoranty * MeSH
• Check Tag
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• dataset MeSH

Several previous studies have shown that in mammals, the health status of conspecifics can be assessed based on perceptual cues. Olfactory, visual, or acoustic cues may lead to avoidant behavior, thus reducing the risk of contagion by close contact with infected individuals. We tested whether immune system activation after immunization leads to perceptible changes in body odor and facial and vocal attractiveness in humans. We have experimentally activated the immune system of male participants using vaccination against hepatitis A/B and meningococcus. Their body odor, facial photographs, and vocal recordings were collected before and 14 days after vaccination. Subsequently, the body odor samples, facial photographs, and vocal recordings were assessed by female raters for their attractiveness and healthiness. We have also measured skin coloration (from facial photographs and in vivo using a spectrophotometer), vocal parameters, and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels as a marker of inflammation. We found an increase in perceived body odor attractiveness, a decrease in facial attractiveness and healthiness, and no change in vocal attractiveness 14 days after vaccination compared to the prevaccination condition. Moreover, there was no change in facial coloration or vocal parameters between the prevaccination and postvaccination conditions. Prevaccination CRP levels were negatively associated with body odor and facial attractiveness and positively associated with body odor intensity. Overall, our results suggest that perceived body odor as well as facial but not vocal attractiveness may provide cues to activation of the immune response and that each modality may carry specific information about the individual's condition.

• Klíčová slova
• face, health status, olfaction, perception, voice,
• MeSH
• hlas * fyziologie   MeSH
• krása MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• obličej MeSH
• podněty MeSH
• tělesný pach * MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Several studies report that olfactory cues play an important role in human life; humans are essentially able to recognize other family members and friends by their odors. Moreover, recent studies report that humans are also able to identify odors of non-conspecifics. The aim of this study was to determine whether dog owners are able to identify their dogs by smell and distinguish the odor of their own dogs from those of other dogs. A total of 53 dog owners (40 females and 13 males of different ages) volunteered to take part in this study. A number of the participants (17) owned 2 dogs; these owners took part in the study twice (i.e., working with only one dog at a time). Sterile gauze pads were used to collect odor samples from the dogs. Each pad was placed in its own sterile glass jar (750 ml) with a twist off lid until the experiment commenced. Participants were asked to identify their own dog´s odor from a line-up of 6 glass containers. This experiment demonstrated that dog owners are capable of identifying their dogs by smell on a significant level. Results of this study additionally suggested that male owners outperformed their female counterparts in the identification process. Moreover, dog owners whose dogs were housed outside had a higher success rate in identification than did participants who kept their dogs indoors with them. The dog owners found it easier to identify dogs that had been neutered, fed dry dog food and bathed less frequently. In general, younger dog owners tended to have more success when attempting to identify their dogs than did their older counterparts.

• MeSH
• čich fyziologie   MeSH
• diskriminace (psychologie) fyziologie   MeSH
• dítě MeSH
• domácí zvířata * MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladiství MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• předškolní dítě MeSH
• průzkumy a dotazníky MeSH
• psi MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• vlastnictví statistika a číselné údaje   MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• dítě MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladiství MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• předškolní dítě MeSH
• psi MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH