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Male brain processing of the body odor of ovulating women compared to that of pregnant women

Ute Habel, Christina Regenbogen, Catharina Kammann, Susanne Stickel, Natalia Chechko
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.16.340463
Ute Habel
aDepartment of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52070 Aachen, Germany
bInstitute of Neuroscience and Medicine: JARA-Institute Brain Structure Function Relationship (INM 10), Research Center Jülich, Wilhelm-Johne Strasse, 52425 Jülich, Germany
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  • For correspondence: uhabel@ukaachen.de sstickel@ukaachen.de nchechko@ukaachen.de
Christina Regenbogen
aDepartment of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52070 Aachen, Germany
bInstitute of Neuroscience and Medicine: JARA-Institute Brain Structure Function Relationship (INM 10), Research Center Jülich, Wilhelm-Johne Strasse, 52425 Jülich, Germany
cDepartment of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Tomtebodavägen 18A, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
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Catharina Kammann
aDepartment of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52070 Aachen, Germany
bInstitute of Neuroscience and Medicine: JARA-Institute Brain Structure Function Relationship (INM 10), Research Center Jülich, Wilhelm-Johne Strasse, 52425 Jülich, Germany
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Susanne Stickel
aDepartment of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52070 Aachen, Germany
bInstitute of Neuroscience and Medicine: JARA-Institute Brain Structure Function Relationship (INM 10), Research Center Jülich, Wilhelm-Johne Strasse, 52425 Jülich, Germany
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  • For correspondence: uhabel@ukaachen.de sstickel@ukaachen.de nchechko@ukaachen.de
Natalia Chechko
aDepartment of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52070 Aachen, Germany
bInstitute of Neuroscience and Medicine: JARA-Institute Brain Structure Function Relationship (INM 10), Research Center Jülich, Wilhelm-Johne Strasse, 52425 Jülich, Germany
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  • For correspondence: uhabel@ukaachen.de sstickel@ukaachen.de nchechko@ukaachen.de
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Abstract

Female chemical signals underlie the advertising of sexual receptivity and fertility. Whether the body odor of a pregnant woman also has a signaling function with respect to male behavior is yet to be conclusively established. This study examines how the body odors of ovulating and pregnant women differentially affect the behavior of heterosexual men.

Body odor samples were collected from 5 pregnant women and 5 matched controls during ovulation. In a double-blind functional magnetic resonance imaging design, 18 heterosexual men were exposed to female body odors during ovulation (OV) and pregnancy (PRG) while being required to indicate the attractiveness of concurrently presented female portrait images. The participants were also required to indicate whether they assumed a depicted woman was pregnant.

While neither OV nor PRG altered the perceived attractiveness of a presented face, the men tended to identify the women as pregnant while exposed to a PRG body odor. On the neural level, OV activated a network of the frontotemporal and limbic regions, while PRG activated the superior medial frontal gyrus.

The results suggest that the detection of sexual availability activates the male brain regions associated with face processing and reward/motivation, whereas sensing pregnancy activates a region responsible for empathy and prosocial behavior. Thus, the female body odor during pregnancy likely helps foster circumstances conducive to the future care of offspring while the body odor advertising sexual availability promotes mating behavior. The brains of heterosexual men may be capable of unconsciously discriminating between these two types of olfactory stimuli.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Footnotes

  • ↵1 Susanne Stickel and Natalia Chechko and are considered as joint senior authors

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
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Posted October 16, 2020.
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Male brain processing of the body odor of ovulating women compared to that of pregnant women
Ute Habel, Christina Regenbogen, Catharina Kammann, Susanne Stickel, Natalia Chechko
bioRxiv 2020.10.16.340463; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.16.340463
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Male brain processing of the body odor of ovulating women compared to that of pregnant women
Ute Habel, Christina Regenbogen, Catharina Kammann, Susanne Stickel, Natalia Chechko
bioRxiv 2020.10.16.340463; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.16.340463

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