James Hassell

Hey, back o da line!

No fear no risk! Human risk behavior is affected by chemosensory anxiety signalsKatrin Haegler, Rebekka Zernecke, Anna Maria Kleemann, Jessica Albrecht, Olga Pollatos,Hartmut Brückmann, Martin Wiesmann

Vomeronasal Organ

1) Females prefer intact males compared to castrated males in a testosterone dependent manner

2) Male sexual pheromones are nonvolatile or contain critical nonvolatile compounds

3) Male-derived volatiles alone are not innately attractive to females

VTA lesions to dopamine neurons shows a correlation to sucrose preference but not male pheromone preference

Systemic injection of a dopamine antagonist did not disrupt preference for soiled bedding but an indirect agonist did.

Meaning if you destroy VTA dopamine neurons your preference for sucrose goes away but your preference for male bedding does not.

Possible alternative pathways for the chemosignal rewards to traverse

fMRIIntensity:

Androstadinone > Neutral SweatSexual Sweat > Neutral SweatPleasantness:Phenyl-Ethyl-Alcohol(PEA) > Sexual & Neutral SweatPhysiologicalIntensity:Androstadinone < PEA Androstadinone < Sexual Sweat < Neutral SweatPleasantness:Androstadinone > Sexual SweatAndrostadinone > Neutral Sweat

Sexual Sweat Neutral Sweat

ANDR PEA

Orbitofrontal Cortex fMRI

Example of what the Haegler’s Risk Game looks like

Considered Risky

Card Shown

Card Chosen

Considered Risky

Winner

Loser

The subjects in the anxiety condition had significantly higher reported anxiety at every time point compared to the subjects in the exercise condition

(0 – 100; 0 easy , 100 difficult)

(0 – 100; 0 positive , 100 negative)(0 – 100; 0 calm , 100 aroused)

It was easy to play

Meh emotionallyNot brain surgery

(0 – 100; 0 not familiar , 100 very ) Have not seen this

No sex differences were observed in the pilot study

Normal people range is between 94 and 106 for standard values (SV) for concentration performance

Sexually unattractive

Rather calm

Very unpleasant Very unpleasant

Sexually unattractive Sexually unattractive

Rather calm Rather calm

Neither Neither Neither

Significantly more pleasant

Neither Neither Neither

Intense IntenseSignificantly less Intense

Slightly negative Slightly negative Slightly positive

Slightly tired Slightly tired Slightly tired Slightly negative Slightly negative Slightly negative Slightly aroused Slightly aroused Slightly aroused

Slightly alert Slightly alert Slightly alert

The people who were exposed to anxiety sweat made significantly more “2 lower” “9 higher” selections than exercise sweat & controls!!!

I bet it’s low!!!!!!...No wait…maybe…low!!