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Investigators in California and Israel meticulously studied the effects on cortisol levels in women of sniffing pure androstadienone (AND), a molecule present in male sweat, saliva, and semen.
Twenty-one heterosexual women (mean age, 22.5 years) in the original study and 27 in a replication study were placed in a chamber specially created for olfactory testing. There, they sniffed AND and a control substance matched for pleasantness and intensity (baking yeast) on cues delivered by a digitized voice. During the sniffing process, the subjects viewed videos of neutral, sad, humorous, and erotic content (emotional contexts that augmented the effects of AND in other studies). They then answered questi…