In accordance with the definition proposed by VON
FRISCH, 1941, we call substances which communicate
the presence of danger, 'alarm substances',
provided that they are produced by members
of the same species. We define the communication of
danger by observing the responses of animals to the
substance under investigation. These responses to
alarm substance may be either attack, as in ants and
bees, or more commonly flight.

Alarm Substances
By W. PFEIFFER

* * *

The existence of alarm substances in communicating emotional
stress via chemosensory cues is well-established in mammals, with
animals exposed to odors secreted by acutely stressed conspecifics
expressing neurobiological and behavioral changes consistent with
increased arousal and threat-assessment.

Chemosensory Cues to Conspecific Emotional Stress Activate Amygdala in Humans
Lilianne R. Mujica-Parodi, et al

* * *

In this study we tried to find out if fear can be detected from human body odours. Female subjects wore under-arm axillary pads while watching a terrifying film. Saliva cortisol samples were taken before and after the film presentation as a hormonal measure for the fear response. A “neutral” film, shown one day after the “fear” film, was used as a control in a repeated measures design. In part two of the experiment, the axillary pads were presented to female subjects in a triple forced choice test. Results show that subjects were able to discriminate between fear and non-fear axillary pads, suggesting that women are indeed able to detect “the scent of fear”.

The Scent of Fear   
Kerstin Ackerl, Michaela Atzmueller, Karl Grammer

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