56 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS Failure of an animal to subsequently respond to an arbitrarily selected odorant used in a learning experiment does not necessarily signify the lack of capability for olfactory communication. Seligman and Hager (65) have shown that learning has its biological boundaries. They make a most persuasive case for the "preparedness" (66-68) hypothesis in behavior studies in contrast to that of"equipotentiality" (69,70). In the latter, it is assumed that all perceptible stimuli are equivalent. Implicit in the prepared- ness hypothesis is the premise that learning is continuous with instinct. Lockhard (71) wrote, ".... natural selection has produced special learning abilities such that some ecologically relevant task is learned at a much faster rate than an arbiyrary task, or natural stimuli are much more effective than artificial stimuli." It follows that the chances of a successful associative learning experiment would be increased when a bio- logically significant odor cue is used. Although there have been conjectures (62,63) concerning apocrine gland, skin and vaginal secretions serving as olfactory communi- cants, little is known of the effects of these odors on man. Behavioral responses elicited by olfactory messengers probably are strongly influenced by the context within which odorants are presented. Also, human volatile secretions may vary with emotional state. More than 70 years ago Ellis (72) wrote, "Women, like men, frequently give out an odor during coitus or strong sexual excitement. This odor may be entirely different from that normally emanating from the woman." Another comment of this prescient psychologist, and one that should be heeded by present-day investigators, also pert•iins to odor and the emotional state (72): "If a certain degree of tumescence is required before a personal odor can exert an attractive influence, a powerful personal odor, strong enough to be perceived before any degree of tumescence is attained, will tend to cause repulsion." Despite the difficulties involved in gaining answers to the question of olfactory com- munication in primates, the quickening pace of research soon should enable us to form conclusions about learned odor associations. In the writer's opinion, the associative learning premise is potentially far more intriguing than the pheromonal model for human behavior. Although emotional responses of man are dominated by vision and hearing, olfaction certainly has not abdicated its function in shaping motivated be- havior. REFERENCES (1) S.N. Salthe, "Evolutionary Biology," Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., New York, 1972. (2) J. B. S. Haldane, "The Causes of Evolution," Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1966. (3) K. B. Doving, Structure-activity relationships in chemoreception, Proceed/ngs of an ECRO Symposium, Benz, G. ed., Information Retrieval Ltd., London, 1976. (4) P. Karlson and A. Butenandt, Ann. Rev. Entomo/., 4, 39 (1959). (5) H. M. Bruce, J. Reprod. Ferti/., 1, 96 (1960). (6) P. Ropartz, C.R. Acad. So/., Paris 263, 2070 (1966). (7) S. Vander Lee and L. M. Boot, Acta physio/. pharmac. neer/., 4, 442 (1955). (8) W. K. Whirten, J. Endocrino/., 13,399 (1956). (9) M. S. Mayer and J. R. McLaughlin, "An Annotated Compendium of Insect Pheromones," Florida Agri- culture Experiment Stations Monograph Series #6, 1975. (10) D. D. Thiessen and M. Rice, Psycho/. Bull., 83,505 (1976). (11) R. P. Michael and E. B. Keverne, Nature (London), 218, 746 (1968). (12) R. P. Michael and E. B. Keverne, Nature (London), 225, 84 (1970). (13) R. P. Michael, E. B. Keverne, and R. W. Bonsall, Science, 172,964 (1971). (14) E. B. Keverne and R. P. Michael, J. Endocrino/., 51, 313 ( 1971).
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