Love scent: Do humans use pheromones like other animals?

[A]necdotal evidence not withstanding, the scientific evidence for pheromones in humans is lacking. However, just because human pheromones have not been identified yet does not mean that they don’t exist. Most other species use them for social cues such as mating – why not humans?

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A recent study…looked specifically at the role of two steroids, androstadienone (AND – associated with men) and estratetraenol (EST – associated with women,) that have recently been reported to signal male and female gender.

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The researchers devised a way to test the role of AND and EST in mate perception by exposing people to them while they are judging different characteristics of faces shown on a computer screen.

The prediction was that the participants would attribute maleness to a gender neutral face if exposed to AND and femaleness if presented if exposed to EST. However, the rank of the faces did not change with the presence of the AND or EST.

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[In addition,] exposure to the substances had no effect on attractiveness ratings.

The debate about human pheromones will certainly continue. However, these results suggest that, even if they do exist, it is unlikely that AND and EST are among them.

[The study can be found here.]

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: No Evidence For Human Pheromones

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