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Association between olfactory abilities, arousal and orgasmicity in women
Hájková, Martina ; Martinec Nováková, Lenka (advisor) ; Vodička, Jan (referee)
Olfaction plays an important role in human mate selection or in ratings of sexual attractiveness of potential mates. Many studies suggest that olfaction is associated with human sexuality and arousal as well, especially in women, for whom the perception of odors is an important aspect not only in mate selection, but also in sexual context. There are steroids called 16-androstenes, which have an unique importance in this issue. These steroids, produced by the apocrine glands, are compounds of human body odor. The aim of the empirical part of this thesis is to research the associations between olfactory abilities and sexual function in women, especially with particular focus on the association of olfactory sensitivity (particularly to androstadienone as well as in general), orgasmicity and arousal, which are two major domains of sexual function. Participants were 90 heterosexual and coupled female students aged 21-30. All participants were tested during the follicular phase of their menstrual cycle. The Sniffin Sticks olfactory test was employed to assess the general olfactory functions. Among others, olfactory sensitivity to androstadienone was measured, as well as the perceived intensity and hedonicity of androstenone, androstenol and andostadienone. Participants filled out set of questionnaires...
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16-androstenes Anosmia in Men
Vondrová, Marta ; Havlíček, Jan (advisor) ; Martinec Nováková, Lenka (referee)
16-androstenes Anosmia in Men 16-androstens are compounds of steroid character which are secreted to the skin as part of apocrine glands secrets and they participate in creating body odor. It was found that androstenes influence affective state and psychophysiological reactions. The effect of androstenes can be also found on subliminal level. However, it has not yet been tested whether individuals with specific anosmia could also be influenced this way. Specific anosmia is described as an individual's incapability of conscious detection of particular odor while the detection of other compounds remains unaffected. The aim of the thesis is to test whether specifically anosmic individuals can be influenced by compounds to which they are anosmic to. This hypothesis is based on research of sensitization. Previous research indicates that olfactory perception may be of larger plasticity than thought. The theoretical part focuses on critical analysis of androstenes and research on specific anosmia. This field contains topics such as influence of chemical structure on androstenes perception, genetic influences, sensitization, functions of androstenes in interpersonal interactions and research on brain imagining. The experimental part focused on measuring subjective ratings of mood and psychophysiological...
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