Description du projet
Les odeurs corporelles affectent-elles le comportement social?
Le comportement social humain est façonné par une interaction complexe de facteurs biologiques, culturels et psychologiques,et par la dynamique de groupe. Chez les animaux, les signaux olfactifs, tels que les phéromones, sont également impliqués dans les liens sociaux, la sélection des partenaires, la reconnaissance et influencent le comportement territorial. Financé par le Conseil européen de la recherche, le projet SocioSmell entend explorer le rôle de la signalisation chimique dans le comportement social humain. Les chercheurs avancent l’hypothèse que la poignée de main est un moyen pour les humains d’échantillonner de manière subliminale les signaux chimiques sociaux, qui sont traités par des mécanismes cérébraux indépendants du système olfactif principal. Le projet cherchera également à déterminer si les personnes atteintes de troubles du spectre autistique présentent une altération du chimiosignal social, introduisant ainsi un nouveau concept dans le comportement social humain.
Objectif
"We test the working hypothesis that humans are constantly engaging in social chemosignaling, and that this serves as a major yet underappreciated force in shaping human social behavior. A major component of social chemosignaling in macrosmatic mammals is conveying of social status, namely dominance/submissiveness. We start by testing the novel hypothesis that humans similarly share information on social status through chemosignals. In support of this, we provide pilot data for a ""smell of dominance"". Next, we ask how do humans sample these social chemosignals? We hypothesize that handshaking serves subliminal sampling of social chemosignaling, and provide comprehensive pilot data implying that humans indeed subliminally sniff their own hands after shaking. Given the importance we attribute to social chemosignaling, one may ask why aren't anosmic individuals significantly socially impaired? We test the hypothesis that social chemosignals are processed by brain mechanisms independent of the main olfactory system. In support of this, we provide pilot data implying a brain response to social chemosignals in individuals with congenital anosmia. Finally, we ask what happens if social chemosignaling is selectively impaired? Given the social impairment we would predict following such social anosmia, we hypothesize that it may be a component of autism spectrum disorder. In support of this hypothesis we provide pilot data of altered social chemosignaling in high functioning adults with autism, and altered olfactory responses in children just diagnosed with autism. The latter implies a potential non-verbal non-task dependent diagnostic measure for autism. Together, this combines to a radically different perspective on human social behavior. We argue that humans are constantly chemosignaling, and that uncovering these effects will provide for better understanding of human social behavior, and potential diagnosis and treatments for diseases involving altered social performance."
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
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Régime de financement
ERC-ADG - Advanced GrantInstitution d’accueil
7610001 Rehovot
Israël