After the duckling pecked open the eggshell and came into the world, it would closely follow the first moving object it saw. Whether or not the object was really its mother duck, it would attach to it as a mother. This phenomenon is called the imprinting phenomenon by the Austrian biologist Lorenz. In fact, humans also have this behavior, but what humans "recognize their mothers" does not rely on sight, but smell.
People appreciate the role of
the fetus in the womb of time also depending on the material and can not distinguish between them, the mother was able to smell the smell, and as the mother and others to distinguish. After ten months of pregnancy, the smell of food and the smell of the mother's body will constitute the mother's overall impression of the fetus's mind, so that the fetus will naturally get close to the mother who emits a familiar smell, just like the "branding phenomenon of birds". "Same.
Not only does the mother's smell make babies feel familiar and close, but the strong "milk fragrance" on the newborn's body often attracts people to get close to them. Studies have shown that the scent of a newborn can activate the reward circuit in people's brains. Close to a newborn, the brain will produce more dopamine, which makes people feel happy. This smell also attracts adults to take care of them willingly.
But the pleasant smell of newborn babies gradually disappeared at about 6 weeks of age, and a unique personal body odor slowly formed.
Scientists believe that everyone has a smell and is unique, even twins who look very similar have a unique smell.
Appreciate the origins of
studies have shown that each person's body odor, mainly from sweat, sweat and these can form a unique body odor, and genes, microbes and more people living in the body related.
First of all, the amount of sweat per person is mainly determined by genes.
We usually have the impression that, compared with Asians, Europeans and Africans are usually taller and rougher and have a stronger body odor. And why is the body odor of Asians not so great? It turns out that about 70% of Asians have a mutation in the ABCC11 gene on chromosome 16, which reduces the secretion of sweat glands.
So does sweat smell like sweat? It's not. The smell we just sweat is not detectable. The three most abundant components in people’s sweat are mercaptans, steroids and acidic substances. These three substances themselves are colorless and odorless. The main reason why people have body odor is sweat. After being secreted, it is transformed by the parasitic microorganisms on the skin surface to produce odorous compounds. Africans and Europeans secrete more sweat and have more raw materials for microbial "fermentation", and the body odor will be greater.
Scientists already know some rules. For example, people with more coryneform bacteria tend to have a pungent odor, and men usually have more coryneform bacteria than women, so their body odor is stronger; on the contrary, women usually have more coryneform bacteria. There are more staphylococci on the body than men, so the body odor is lighter.
It is under the dual effects of genetic inheritance and microorganisms that we have obtained our own unique smell.
Interestingly olfactory memory
Research shows that people appreciate is selective memory. The results of EEG showed that smells similar to those of the body can activate the middle and front area of the right side of the brain, which makes people feel comfortable and their emotions more calm.
Among couples, taste memories are even more profound. Researchers at McGill University in Montreal, Canada have done such an experiment: They found 20 couples, men who were required to wear the same cotton T-shirt to sleep for 7 consecutive nights, with juice-absorbing pads sewn under the arms of the T-shirt. After that, the girls were asked to smell the pads and pick out the one worn by their lover from the 3 pieces of clothing. As a result, all women can find clothes worn by their lovers at once.
Of course, compared with animals, we rarely get information through body odor. Dogs get information through scents. Ants rely on the pheromone odors left along the way to know the way. Cats release the scent of sex hormones when they are in heat. Humans use language, hearing and vision to transmit and receive this information.
Therefore, even though body odor contains pheromone, it is generally difficult for people to distinguish each person by smell. Scientists suspect that the decline in the ability of humans to smell body odor may be due to evolution. I really don’t know if this is happiness or sadness.
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