Human Pheromones| Scent of Eros| Unsolicited Video| Audio interview

Scent of Eros products unsolicited 5-minute video testimony and twin test

Scent of Eros products are not aphrodisiacs despite their very positive representation in this promotional video, which was produced without my knowledge.

Audio interview with James V. Kohl

Scent of Eros products have a very positive influence on other people, which is a great thing to promote.  It’s just best not to get too carried away by claims of magical effects.

Study results: Human pheromones influence human behavior

Dr. Richard L. Doty’s claim that pheromones in mammals are a myth is again falsified by the presentation of data from a study of student women.  As always, I welcome challenges to our study design, constructive criticisms on our results, and comments on biologically based animal models of behavior that do not incorporate pheromones.  My question to Dr. Doty is:  If mammalian pheromones don’t exist, what shall we call the human pheromones that elicit behavioral affects?

Association for Chemoreception Sciences XXXIII April 13-17, 2011      Tradewinds Island Grand St. Pete Beach, Florida 

#P301 POSTER SESSION VI: OLFACTION: PERIPHERY; OLFACTORY CNS; PSYCHOPHYSICS; HUMAN CHEMICAL SIGNALING

Human Pheromones, Epigenetics, Physiology, and the Development of Animal Behavior

James V Kohl, Stone Independent Research, Inc. Phoenix , NY , USA

Linda C Kelahan, Heather Hoffmann, Knox College/Psychology Galesberg , IL , USA

Androsterone, as used here, smells like fresh sweat. It is an individual human male-specific and somewhat primate-specific part of a mixture of axillary chemical secretions that contain androstenol, which influences levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) and mood in women. LH is a hormonal measure of diet dependent sexual maturity and fertility, which is influenced by mammalian pheromones. Mammalian conditioning paradigms suggest that androstenol conditions hormonal effects in females, which may be unconsciously associated with behavioral affects of androsterone in women. We evaluated individual video-taped fifteen-minute interactions of fourteen women with fertile phase levels of LH during a cooperative task. During the task, our male accomplice wore either a standardized androstenol / androsterone mixture diluted in propylene glycol, or just the diluent — with sandalwood odor added to keep him blind to his condition.

When he was wearing the mixture compared to when he wore the diluent, women were more likely to make eye contact (t(12) = 3.43, p = .01; IRR: r = .964, p = .01). They also laughed more (t(12) = 5.20, p <.01; IRR: r = .810, p = .01), and they subsequently rated themselves as being more attracted to him (t(12) = 2.786, p = .016). Our results combine the known effects of androstenol on LH and on mood with a likely behavioral affect of androsterone. They also address contrarian opinions and extend to human females a eusocial insect model for the epigenetic effects of diet and of pheromones on hormone-mediated gene expression during behavioral development. Our mixture characterizes species-specific human pheromones, their epigenetic effects on physiology, and their affect on behavior. Our results are consistent with a validated, unaltered, decades-old, across-species concept of pheromones.

Effects of pheromones on menstrual synchrony and a gay man

A correspondent asked: Can anyone tell me of research looking at what effect pheromones might have on a man (in this case, a gay man), living with and among women over a long period of time?  This question was asked of me by a male student, I’m guessing in just such a situation, after we had been discussing the effects on women, such as the dormitory effect of synched menstrual cycles

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I’m not aware of any studies, and would be surprised to learn of any, since most people remain unconvinced that human pheromones have the same epigenetic effects as food odors on the gene, cell, tissue, organ, organ system pathway that links both food odors and pheromones to the development of brain-directed behavior across species. In any case, the results of the effects of pheromones acting via their direct effect on gonadotropin releasing hormone secretion from the medial preoptic area of the anterior hypothalamus (e.g., in mammals) could only be partially predicted by his genotype and nutrient and pheromone exposure-enhanced phenotypic expression across his lifetime of experience.

Clearly, food odor and pheromone-induced changes in the neuroanatomy of his brain are predicted by the honeybee model (e.g., for studying human immunity, disease resistance, allergic reaction, circadian rhythms, antibiotic resistance, the development of the brain and behavior, mental health, longevity, and diseases of the X chromosome), and a recent study showed that the mixing of genotypes had what they refer to as indirect genetic effects on social behavior (i.e., “behaviors of single workers can change in response to the genotype of social partners”).

Whether or not these epigenetically-induced changes in his brain alter phenotypic expression of his behavior is a much more controversial  topic than if we were discussing insects, although the molecular mechanisms are the same.  We might first need to get past the statistical analyses of menstrual synchrony studies, and look at cause and effect on hormones, and their affect on behavior before addressing the likelihood that his social circumstances are influencing much more that just the molecular biology of his brain.

Of course his pheromones are also influencing neuroanatomy in his roommates. Assuming, however, that there is good “chemistry” among them, there is little likelihood of “colony collapse,” which suggests no reason not to continue the living arrangements, and no reason to worry about the affects of the pheromones on the behavior of any concerned parties. After all, few people have even considered whether human pheromone-driven menstrual synchrony affects the behavior of women or men, despite that animal models that say it must.

But see for example: Ovulation as a Male Mating Prime: Subtle Signs of Women’s Fertility Influence Men’s Mating Cognition and Behavior and Scent of a Woman: Men’s Testosterone Responses to Olfactory Ovulation Cues by forward-thinking researchers who understand the significance of the accurate conceptualization of human pheromones to advances in psychological science.

Creation of different species without physical barriers

“Caught in the act: Study discovers microbes speciating.” February 21st, 2012.

More information: Cadillo-Quiroz H, Didelot X, Held NL, Herrera A, Darling A, et al. (2012) Patterns of Gene Flow Define Species of Thermophilic Archaea. PLoS Biol 10(2): e1001265. (full text is free).

My comment:

Speciation sans physical barriers to gene flow suggests determination by the ecological influence of nutrient-associated chemicals and their intracellular metabolism to species-specific pheromones, which enable self / non-self recognition. This extends the model here to speciation associated with physical barriers in cichlid fish and in human endogenous retrovirus (HERV)-infected primates. In theory, viruses epigenetically modify intracellular signaling pathways, which is how they “drive” the emergence of different species. This theory incorporates their pervasive influence across species, chemical ecology, and detailed molecular mechanisms for species survival. It also attests to the biological fact that the study of asexual selection in microbes and sexual selection mechanisms in vertebrates must be approached from the same perspective. It does not allow for asexual selection, sexual selection, or the Creation of new species to be based on spectral input and/or visual perception. There’s no model for that!

Human Pheromones: 2010 Powerpoint slides and 2011 poster presentation

Here are the slides with text from a 20 minute-long presentation: Human pheromones: linking neuroendocrinology and ethology (revisited)

20th Biennial Congress of the International Society for Human Ethology 2010, 1 – 5 Aug 2010, Parallel Session A

Background / Purpose: Their conversion from chemical signals to the mammalian brain’s common language of electrical signals allows food odors and pheromones to activate genes. In this mammalian model, electrostatic gene activation by pheromones links them to a marker of neuronal activity, gene expression, and changes in hypothalamic gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) secretion.

Main conclusion: Changes in GnRH secretion are evidenced in downstream effects on other hormone secretion throughout the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Food odors and pheromones activate the prenatal organization of the HPG and HPA axes and postnatally “calibrate” the genetically predisposed survival potential of individuals and species. Calibration of odor preferences occurs via effects on synaptogenesis, synaptolysis, and apoptosis throughout life. In mammals, these effects of odors are routinely associated with neurotransmission, hippocampal neurogenesis, learning, and memory during classically conditioned hormone-driven changes in behavior. In people, these neurophysiological effects of calibration by odors are typically consciously associated only with input from spectral senses (e.g., vision and hearing), or tactile sensations.

Next steps: Extension of this mammalian model to people explains how cerebral activation of hormone-secreting neurons and processes commonly attributed to individual components of the model, like genes or hormones, result in genetically predisposed phenotypic expression, which may or may not be physically or behaviorally manifested during development. The explanation includes (1) a cognitive component associated with the identification and categorization of some odors; (2) an emotional component associated with odors and increased or decreased arousal, appetite, and satiation; (3) a motivational component linked to processes that direct behavior toward or away from food odors and pheromones; and (4) a neurophysiological component, directly linked from odors to gene activation in hormone-secreting nerve cells of brain tissue; to HPG / HPA axis variability, and to behavior.

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An updated poster presentation of the one presented in 2010 is also available: Human pheromones, epigenetics, physiology, and the development of animal behavior.

Association for Chemoreception Sciences Annual Meeting 2011, 13 – 17 Apr 2011, 301

Background/Purpose: We evaluated individual video-taped fifteen-minute interactions of fourteen women with fertile phase levels of Luteinizing Hormone (LH) during a cooperative task. During the task, our male accomplice wore either a standardized androstenol / androsterone mixture diluted in propylene glycol, or just the diluents; with sandalwood odor added to keep him blind to his condition.

Main conclusion: When he was wearing the mixture compared to when he wore the diluent, women were more likely to make eye contact (t (12) = 3.43, p = 0.01; IRR: r = 0.964, p = 0.01). They also laughed more (t (12) = 5.20, p < 0.01; IRR: r = 0.810, p = 0.01), and they subsequently rated themselves as being more attracted to him (t (12) = 2.786, p = 0.016).

Our results combine the known effects of androstenol on LH and on mood with a likely behavioral affect of androsterone.