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

• Applicant: Bernhard Fink, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Social Psychology, Industrial and Organisational Psychology
• Term: from 2010 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 182560643

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.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants