Social odours, sexual arousal and pairbonding in primates

Abstract

We describe the role of social odours in sexual arousal and maintaining pairbonds in biparental and cooperatively breeding primates. Social odours are complex chemical mixtures produced by an organism that can simultaneously provide information about species, kinship, sex, individuality and reproductive state. They are long lasting and have advantages over other modalities. Both sexes are sensitive to changes in odours over the reproductive cycle and experimental disruption of signals can lead to altered sexual behaviour within a pair. We demonstrate, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), that social odours indicating reproductive state directly influence the brain areas responsible for sexual behaviour. Social odours also influence other brain areas typically involved in motivation, memory and decision making, suggesting that these signals have more complex functions in primates than mere sexual arousal. We demonstrate a rapid link between social odours and neuroendocrine responses that are modulated by a male's social status. Recent work on humans shows similar responses to social odours. We conclude with an integration of the importance of social odours on sexual arousal and maintaining pairbonds in socially biparental and cooperatively breeding species, suggesting new research directions to integrate social behaviour, neural activation and neuroendocrine responses.

Risk for intentional violent death associated with HLA genotypes: a preliminary survey of deceased American organ donors

“…Aggression is closely associated with mating and inter-individual social hierarchies in most animal models (Lorenz 1966;Wilson 1975;Hemelrijk and Kunz 2004;Brennan and Kendrick 2006;Snowdon et al 2006;Scordato and Drea 2007;Hemelrijk et al 2008), and many of these models strongly implicate HLA as a detectable, selective force (Lewis 1998;Eggert et al 1999a;Landry et al 2001;Hambuch and Lacey 2002;Yamazaki et al 2002;Milinski et al 2005;Petfield et al 2005;Brennan and Kendrick 2006). Based upon this evidence, Kohl et al (2001) suggested new approaches to studying MHC-based pheromonal recognition among humans and mammals, including precise measurements of individual HLA genotypes among interacting individuals, considerations of varying biochemistries, changes in physiological status, and human microbial flora.…”

Do Common Marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) Use Scent to Communicate Information about Food Resources?

“…Despite this, research on olfaction has lagged behind other sensory modalities [Semple and Higham, 2013;Drea, 2015]. One well-studied species, common marmoset monkeys (Callithrix jacchus), use scent in a variety of social contexts including individual identification [Smith, 2006], intragroup communication [Ziegler et al, 2005], and sexual signaling [Snowdon et al, 2006]. However, less is known regarding the ecological contexts in which marmosets use olfaction.…”

“…Scents are an essential mechanism of communication in primates, even for lineages with a reduced sense of smell [Snowdon et al, 2006;Semple and Higham, 2013]. Despite this, research on olfaction has lagged behind other sensory modalities [Semple and Higham, 2013;Drea, 2015].…”

“…vision, audition) that produces an enduring signal detectable by animals at a later date [Snowdon et al, 2006;Drea, 2015]. Hence, it is one of the only signals able to communicate information over the long term (e.g., hours or days).…”

Introduction. The neurobiology of social recognition, attraction and bonding

“…The review also provides insights into the nature of learning-induced changes which occur within these systems in both rodent mate recognition and sheep models of offspring recognition. The second review focuses on a recent series of brain imaging studies on pair-bonding marmosets revealing that social odours which signal reproductive state influence not only sexual arousal and brain regions mediating the sexual response, but also those associated with memory and emotional decision making as well (Snowdon et al 2006). This paper also discusses evidence for similar roles of social odours in the control of human reproduction, although it is clear that odour plays less of a role in humans than in many other species.…”