Division of Psychology, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK.
Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 7, 128 42 Prague 2, Czech Republic.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2020 Jun 8;375(1800):20190258. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0258. Epub 2020 Apr 20.
Although anthropologists frequently report the centrality of odours in the daily lives and cultural beliefs of many small-scale communities, Western scholars have historically considered the sense of smell as minimally involved in human communication. Here, we suggest that the origin and persistence of this latter view might be a consequence of the fact that most research is conducted on participants from Western societies who, collectively, were rather (adults), and (ODD) to various aspects of olfactory perception. The view is rapidly changing, however, and this themed issue provides a timely overview of the current state-of-the-art on human chemocommunication. Based on evolutionary models of communication, the papers cover both general mechanisms of odour production by 'senders' and odour perception by 'receivers'. Focus on specific functional contexts includes reciprocal impact of odours between infants and mothers, the role of odour in mate choice and how odours communicate emotion and disease. Finally, a position paper outlines pitfalls and opportunities for the future, against the context of the replication crisis in psychology. We believe a more nuanced view of human chemical communication is within our grasp if we can continue to develop inter-disciplinary insights and expand research activities beyond ODD people. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Olfactory communication in humans'.
尽管人类学家经常报告说，气味在许多小规模社区的日常生活和文化信仰中占据中心地位，但西方学者在历史上一直认为嗅觉在人类交流中作用不大。在这里，我们认为这种观点的起源和持续存在可能是由于这样一个事实，即大多数研究都是在来自西方社会的参与者身上进行的，他们总体上（成年人），并且（对嗅觉感知的各个方面都感到奇怪）。然而，这种观点正在迅速改变，本期特刊及时概述了人类化学通讯的最新现状。基于通讯的进化模型，这些论文涵盖了“发送者”产生气味和“接收者”感知气味的一般机制。对特定功能背景的关注包括婴儿和母亲之间气味的相互影响、气味在配偶选择中的作用以及气味如何传达情感和疾病。最后，一篇立场文件概述了未来的陷阱和机遇，背景是心理学中的复制危机。我们相信，如果我们能够继续发展跨学科的见解，并将研究活动扩展到对嗅觉感到奇怪的人之外，我们就能更全面地了解人类的化学通讯。本文是 Theo Murphy 会议议题“人类嗅觉通讯”的一部分。
