Ethnic influences on the perceptual properties of human chemosignals

Valentina Parma; Nelly Redolfi; Laura Alho; Marta Rocha; Jacqueline Ferreira; Carlos F Silva; Sandra C Soares

doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2019.05.005

Ethnic influences on the perceptual properties of human chemosignals

Physiol Behav. 2019 Oct 15:210:112544. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2019.05.005. Epub 2019 May 24.

Authors

Valentina Parma¹, Nelly Redolfi², Laura Alho³, Marta Rocha⁴, Jacqueline Ferreira⁵, Carlos F Silva⁴, Sandra C Soares⁶

Affiliations

¹ International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), Neuroscience Area, Trieste, Italy; William James Center for Research, Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada, Lisbon, Portugal; Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Electronic address: vparma@ispa.pt.
² International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), Neuroscience Area, Trieste, Italy; Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
³ Lusófona University of Humanities and Technology, Lisbon, Portugal; HEI-Lab (Human-Environment Interaction Lab), Lusófona University of Humanities and Technologies, Lisbon, Portugal.
⁴ William James Center for Research, Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada, Lisbon, Portugal; CINTESIS.UA, Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Portugal.
⁵ CINTESIS.UA, Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Portugal.
⁶ William James Center for Research, Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada, Lisbon, Portugal; Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; CINTESIS.UA, Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Portugal.

PMID: 31130295
DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2019.05.005

Abstract

Individuals of African and Caucasian descent show different chemical signatures in their body odors (BO). Does such biological difference have a perceptual correlate? We tested BO donors and raters of Afro-Portuguese (AP) and Caucasian (C) descent to investigate whether olfactory ratings reveal an ethnic bias and whether olfactory ethnic discrimination is possible. C (vs. AP) women rated the C BO as more pleasant, even when controlling for intensity. The C BO labelled as AP was rated as more intense by C raters. Although discriminability of ethnicity and sex is at chance, a nominal advantage for AP vs. C BO emerges.

Keywords: Bias; Body odors; Ethnicity; Ingroup; Olfaction; Outgroup.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Black People
Ethnicity*
Female
Humans
Male
Odorants*
Olfactory Perception / physiology*
Recognition, Psychology
Sex Characteristics
Social Behavior
White People
Young Adult