No evidence for association between human body odor quality and immune system functioning

Schwambergová, Dagmar; Sorokowska, Agnieszka; Slámová, Žaneta; Fialová, Jitka; Sabiniewicz, Agnieszka; Nowak-Kornicka, Judyta; Borkowska, Barbara; Pawłowski, Bogusław; Havlı́ček, Jan

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105363

Cited by 3 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…Data used for this study are part of a larger project which investigates possible associations between reactivity of the immune system and attractiveness of human body odour 53 , face, and voice as perceived by opposite-sex individuals. The present article focuses on associations between immune system reactivity and perceived facial attractiveness, healthiness, and skin healthiness.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Study 1 was part of a larger project that also included the rating of voice recordings and body odour samples 53 . Exposure to a higher number of odour samples increases the risk of olfactory adaptation and can therefore affect rating, which is why the rating sessions were conducted on two separate days to accommodate a larger number of raters.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Attractive and healthy-looking male faces do not show higher immunoreactivity

Pátková

Schwambergová

Fialová

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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Previous research has indicated that facial attractiveness may provide cues to the functioning of the immune system. Mating with individuals who have a more effective immune system could lead to a higher reproductive success. Our main aim was to test a possible association between immunoreactivity (stimulated by vaccination) and perceived facial attractiveness and healthiness. We experimentally activated the immune system of healthy men using vaccination against hepatitis A/B and meningococcus and measured levels of specific antibodies (markers of immune system reactivity) before and 30 days after the vaccination. Further, 1 day before the vaccination, we collected their facial photographs that were judged by females for attractiveness, healthiness, and facial skin patches for healthiness. In view of its proposed connection with the functioning of the immune system, we also measured skin colouration (both from the facial photographs and in vivo using a spectrophotometer) and we assessed its role in attractiveness and healthiness judgements. Moreover, we measured the levels of steroid hormones (testosterone and cortisol) and the percentage of adipose tissue, because both are known to have immunomodulatory properties and are related to perceived facial attractiveness and healthiness. We found no significant associations between antibody levels induced by vaccination and perceived facial attractiveness, facial healthiness, or skin healthiness. We also found no significant connections between steroid hormone levels, the amount of adipose tissue, rated characteristics, and antibody levels, except for a small negative effect of cortisol levels on perceived facial healthiness. Higher forehead redness was perceived as less attractive and less healthy and higher cheek patch redness was perceived as less healthy, but no significant association was found between antibody levels and facial colouration. Overall, our results suggest that perceived facial attractiveness, healthiness, and skin patch healthiness provide limited cues to immunoreactivity, and perceived characteristics seem to be related only to cortisol levels and facial colouration.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attractive and healthy-looking male faces do not show higher immunoreactivity

Pátková

Schwambergová

Fialová

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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“…Similarly, the adipose tissue level might have immunomodulatory properties and affect attractiveness ratings (Pawłowski et al, 2017). In our dataset, we did not find any significant association between body height and immune response or body mass index/adipose tissue and immune response to vaccination (Pátková et al, 2022;Schwambergová et al, 2021). However, Target ID: random components variance = 1.031, SD = 1.015, and ICC = 0.380; for rater ID: random components variance = 0.176, SD = 0.420, and ICC = 0.094.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

“…Acquisition of Facial Photographs. Facial photographs and voice recordings together with measurements of body composition (for details, see Schwambergová et al, 2021) and skin color (for details, see Pátková et al, 2022) were acquired in the Human Ethology laboratory at the Faculty of Science, Charles University.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Immunoactivation Affects Perceived Body Odor and Facial but Not Vocal Attractiveness

Schwambergová,

Pátková,

Třebická Fialová

et al. 2023

Evol Psychol

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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.

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“…Humans exchange various kinds of social information via chemosensory communication, related to the status of the genetic, neuronal, endocrine, and immune systems [1][2][3]. Hereby, social volatiles convey messages about age, gender, health, personality, basic drives, and emotions, fostering reproductive success and harm avoidance in humans.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

You See What You Smell: Preferential Processing of Chemosensory Satiety Cues and Its Impact on Body Shape Perception

et al. 2021

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The current study examines neural responses to satiety- and fasting-related volatiles and their effect on the processing of body shapes. Axillary sweat was sampled with cotton pads from 10 individuals after 12 h of fasting, and after having consumed a standard breakfast. Pure cotton pads served as the control. The chemosensory stimuli were presented to 20 participants (via a constant-flow olfactometer) exclusively, and additionally as context to images of overweight and underweight avatars. EEG was recorded (61 electrodes), and chemosensory (CSERPs; P1, N1, P2, P3) and visual event-related potentials (VERPs; N1, P2, P3a, P3b) were analyzed. The amplitudes of all positive CSERP components differed more strongly from cotton in response to chemosensory satiety cues as compared to fasting cues (P1: p = 0.023, P2: p = 0.083, P3: p = 0.031), paralleled by activity within the middle frontal and temporal gyrus. Overweight compared to underweight body shapes tended to elicit larger VERP P2 amplitudes (p = 0.068), and chemosensory satiety cues amplified the VERP amplitudes in response to any body shape (P2, P3a, P3b; all ps ≤ 0.017) as compared to the cotton control. The results indicate that chemosensory satiety cues transmit complex social information, overriding the processing of analogous visual input.

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No evidence for association between human body odor quality and immune system functioning

Cited by 3 publications

References 65 publications

Attractive and healthy-looking male faces do not show higher immunoreactivity

Attractive and healthy-looking male faces do not show higher immunoreactivity

Immunoactivation Affects Perceived Body Odor and Facial but Not Vocal Attractiveness

You See What You Smell: Preferential Processing of Chemosensory Satiety Cues and Its Impact on Body Shape Perception

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