A scent of romance: human putative pheromone affects men's sexual cognition

Estratetraenol increases preference for large sexual reward but not impulsivity among heterosexual males

There is increasing evidence suggesting that estratetraenol, a human chemosignal deemed a putative sex pheromone, affects social cognition and sexual behavior. The present study investigates the effects of estratetraenol on preference for sexual rewards in heterosexual males. Seventy-six male participants received either estratetraenol or a control carrier in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-participant design. Participants underwent a sexual delay discounting task, in which they were asked to make a choice between a variable larger-later option (i.e., waiting longer to view a sexual picture for a longer duration) and a smaller-sooner option (i.e., waiting for a fixed shorter period of time to view the same picture for a shorter duration). Results revealed that, compared to the control solution, estratetraenol selectively increases preference for larger-later sexual rewards. Computational modelling showed that estratetraenol has no observable influence on impulsivity, as indexed by the discounting rate. These findings suggest that estratetraenol could increase men's sexual motivation, possibly facilitating behavioral processes associated with the pursuit of a sexual partner.

Women's body odour during the ovulatory phase modulates testosterone and cortisol levels in men

A growing body of evidence suggests that men may perceive women’s bodily odour to be more attractive during the high-fertility ovulatory phase than during other phases in the menstrual cycle. In particular, women’s bodily odour may influence important aspects of male mating behaviour, but the precise nature of this phenomena remains to be elucidated. Twenty-six men and five women participated in the study. Each woman wore a cotton T-shirt during the night for 3 days during the ovulatory phase, after which the regions of the T-shirt that had been in contact with the woman’s chest, armpits, and back, were cut out of the garment. We evaluated the changes in testosterone and cortisol levels in the saliva of men who smelled these cloth pieces. The odour emitted from the backs of women in the ovulatory phase was found to increase testosterone secretion in men, whereas the odour emitted from the chests of women in the ovulatory phase reduced cortisol secretion in men. These results suggest that the odour of specific body parts of women modulate unconscious physiological reactions in men.