Visual, olfactory, and vocal cues to fecundity in human females

人类女性生育能力的视觉、嗅觉和声音提示

• 批准号: 182560643
• 负责人: Dr. Bernhard Fink, Ph.D.
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Department für Evolutionäre Anthropologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2009-12-31 至 2015-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/182560643?language=en
• 关键词: Visual; olfactory; vocal; cues; fecundity

The oestrus cycle comprises the recurring physiologic changes that are induced by reproductive hormones in most mammalian (placental) females. In animals this distinct phase of fertility is typically associated with enhanced proceptivity and receptivity to males and frequently linked to certain sensory cues. It has been argued that human females, in contrast, have lost such a distinct phase of fertility within their reproductive cycle (Jolly, 1972; Alexander & Noonan, 1979; Alexander, 1990), as they do not display clear signals of fertility status. However, recent evidence from the evolutionary study of human sexual behaviour suggests that this view of a 'concealed ovulation' must be reconsidered, as evidence suggest that there are certain visual, olfactory and vocal cues that serve as indirect signs of a woman's fertility (Thornhill & Gangestad, 2008). Evolutionary psychologists argue that men have developed cognitive adaptations throughout evolution, such that they judge those sensory cues attractive, which are linked to a woman's fertility (Law-Smith et al., 2006; Singh & Bronstad, 2001; Puts, 2005). If the hypothesis that human female fertility is not entirely concealed, but also signalled via sensory cues, were true men should be able to discern fertile from nonfertile women based on either visual, olfactory or vocal cues (or all of them). So far, the predominant samples in studies testing this assertion have been young women at College age, thus it remains to be investigated whether differences in men's perceptions of these signals in pre-reproductive, reproductive, and post-reproductive women exist. In this present project we test the hypothesis of differences in men’s perception of women's visual, olfactory and vocal cues of three age cohorts (i.e. pre-reproductive, reproductive, and post-reproductive women). We hypothesize that men are sensitive to the variation in women’s facial appearance, body odour and voices, all of which are linked to a woman’s fertility. Because sexual selection favours males who are able to detect fertility in women, and thus identify them as potential mates, women at reproductive age should receive higher attractiveness judgements than pre-reproductive and post-reproductive women, this being true for all three sensory quality.

发情周期包括由大多数哺乳动物（胎盘）雌性生殖激素诱导的反复出现的生理变化。在动物中，生育力的这一独特阶段通常与对雄性的感知能力和接受能力的增强有关，并且经常与某些感官线索有关。有人认为，人类女性，相反，已经失去了这样一个独特的阶段的生育能力在其生殖周期（乔利，1972年;亚历山大和努南，1979年;亚历山大，1990年），因为他们没有显示出明确的信号生育状态。然而，最近人类性行为进化研究的证据表明，这种“隐藏排卵”的观点必须重新考虑，因为有证据表明，有某些视觉，嗅觉和声音线索可以作为女性生育能力的间接标志（Thornhill & Gangestad，2008）。进化心理学家认为，在整个进化过程中，男性已经发展出了认知适应能力，因此他们判断那些感官线索具有吸引力，这与女性的生育能力有关（Law-Smith et al.，2006; Singh & Bronstad，2001; Puts，2005）。如果假设人类女性的生育能力不是完全隐藏的，但也通过感官线索发出信号，那么真正的男人应该能够根据视觉，嗅觉或声音线索（或全部）区分生育能力和非生育能力的女性。到目前为止，在测试这一论断的研究中，主要样本是大学年龄的年轻女性，因此，男性对这些信号的看法在生育前、生育后和生育后的女性中是否存在差异还有待研究。在本项目中，我们测试的假设差异，男性的感知女性的视觉，嗅觉和声音的线索的三个年龄组（即前生殖，生殖，和后生殖的妇女）。我们假设，男性对女性的面部表情、体味和声音的变化很敏感，所有这些都与女性的生育能力有关。由于性选择倾向于那些能够检测女性生育能力的男性，从而将其确定为潜在的配偶，处于生育年龄的女性应该比生育前和生育后的女性获得更高的吸引力判断，这对所有三种感官质量都是如此。