Abstract
Alarm substances are airborne chemical signals, released by an individual into the environment, which communicate emotional stress between conspecifics. Here we tested whether humans, like other mammals, are able to detect emotional stress in others by chemosensory cues. Sweat samples collected from individuals undergoing an acute emotional stressor, with exercise as a control, were pooled and presented to a separate group of participants (blind to condition) during four experiments. In an fMRI experiment and its replication, we showed that scanned participants showed amygdala activation in response to samples obtained from donors undergoing an emotional, but not physical, stressor. An odor-discrimination experiment suggested the effect was primarily due to emotional, and not odor, differences between the two stimuli. A fourth experiment investigated behavioral effects, demonstrating that stress samples sharpened emotion-perception of ambiguous facial stimuli. Together, our findings suggest human chemosensory signaling of emotional stress, with neurobiological and behavioral effects.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | e6415 |
| Journal | PloS one |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 29 2009 |
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All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)
- General
Cite this
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Chemosensory cues to conspecific emotional stress activate amygdala in humans. / Mujica-Parodi, Lilianne R.; Strey, Helmut H.; Frederick, Blaise; Savoy, Robert; Cox, David; Botanov, Yevgeny; Tolkunov, Denis; Rubin, Denis; Weber, Jochen.
In: PloS one, Vol. 4, No. 7, e6415, 29.07.2009.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Chemosensory cues to conspecific emotional stress activate amygdala in humans
AU - Mujica-Parodi, Lilianne R.
AU - Strey, Helmut H.
AU - Frederick, Blaise
AU - Savoy, Robert
AU - Cox, David
AU - Botanov, Yevgeny
AU - Tolkunov, Denis
AU - Rubin, Denis
AU - Weber, Jochen
PY - 2009/7/29
Y1 - 2009/7/29
N2 - Alarm substances are airborne chemical signals, released by an individual into the environment, which communicate emotional stress between conspecifics. Here we tested whether humans, like other mammals, are able to detect emotional stress in others by chemosensory cues. Sweat samples collected from individuals undergoing an acute emotional stressor, with exercise as a control, were pooled and presented to a separate group of participants (blind to condition) during four experiments. In an fMRI experiment and its replication, we showed that scanned participants showed amygdala activation in response to samples obtained from donors undergoing an emotional, but not physical, stressor. An odor-discrimination experiment suggested the effect was primarily due to emotional, and not odor, differences between the two stimuli. A fourth experiment investigated behavioral effects, demonstrating that stress samples sharpened emotion-perception of ambiguous facial stimuli. Together, our findings suggest human chemosensory signaling of emotional stress, with neurobiological and behavioral effects.
AB - Alarm substances are airborne chemical signals, released by an individual into the environment, which communicate emotional stress between conspecifics. Here we tested whether humans, like other mammals, are able to detect emotional stress in others by chemosensory cues. Sweat samples collected from individuals undergoing an acute emotional stressor, with exercise as a control, were pooled and presented to a separate group of participants (blind to condition) during four experiments. In an fMRI experiment and its replication, we showed that scanned participants showed amygdala activation in response to samples obtained from donors undergoing an emotional, but not physical, stressor. An odor-discrimination experiment suggested the effect was primarily due to emotional, and not odor, differences between the two stimuli. A fourth experiment investigated behavioral effects, demonstrating that stress samples sharpened emotion-perception of ambiguous facial stimuli. Together, our findings suggest human chemosensory signaling of emotional stress, with neurobiological and behavioral effects.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=68149141708&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=68149141708&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0006415
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0006415
M3 - Article
C2 - 19641623
AN - SCOPUS:68149141708
VL - 4
JO - PLoS One
JF - PLoS One
SN - 1932-6203
IS - 7
M1 - e6415
ER -