What is Digg?11 Comments
- steve693, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7So it's true, they really can smell fear. . .
- jacks0n, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Well duh. The release of hypothalamic-pituatary-adrenal hormones have been long shown to accelerate thought processes. Stress is good up to a point, then after that point you can't function properly, then it just becomes anxiety; which is good only for physical exertion. The thing learnt here is the fact, sweat has the potential to be mood alterating. Who knows, perhaps into the not-too-distant future, people will be injecting themselves with other happy people's sweat in the hope for a 20 minute high, followed by bouts of depression ..... Heroin 2.0?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5There's a lot of political science literature that holds that rationality comes from shared fear. We may be aggressive and thoughtless when we have the upper hand, but fear makes us want to cooperate with someone, wants us to find a basis for confidence/security.
- haxx4, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"It is well-documented in the research literature that animals experiencing stress and fear produce chemical warning signals that can lead to behavioral, endocrinological and immunological changes in their fellow animals of the same species, but we wanted to see if this applies to humans as well,"
As far as biology is concerned, we're animals too. - JohnnySoftware, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Oh, great.
These days popcorn and every other kind of junk food are being sold in so-called "Smart Foods" formulas. How long before we start seeing "Smart Scents" sold at women's perfume counters? - swifty, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This reminds me of the phenomena known as menstrual synchrony. It is the idea that woman who live with one another synch up their menstrual cycles so that they experience their periods at roughly the same time.
The study seems to be conducted in a very similar way as well, applying the sweat from an unknown woman to the subject woman. Pretty interesting stuff. - Godric, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Old news.
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain." Dune, Frank Herbert. - Mattman723, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Worked out well for me. I took the SATs today, and that was stressful. Luckily its 20 minute sections.
- OsakaWilson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Put some of that in a nasal spray bottle and market it. Snort-brite.
In all seriousness, I'll guess that smelling fear-sweat while learning will result in higher retention in tests taken later. We are definitely hard-wired to remember situations that scare us. - Pile, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Great. Next time there's an earthquake or some other disaster, my girlfriend will perform well on word-association tests. This will come in real handy.
http://bsalert.com/ - Eltrkbrd, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0I always knew bitches could sense fear!
Does the study mention how they react to scrotum sweat?
J/K!
Honestly, dug in relation to cognitive science.
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