Women's tears contain chemical signals that reduce testosterone levels in men, according to a study by a neuroscientist in Israel. Testosterone is a hormone found in mammals, reptiles and birds. It is the principal male sex hormone.
The existence of pheromones -chemical signals that produce a social response- in humans has been debated for a long time. Investigation has shown that human sweat communicates information about identity, genetic relatedness, emotional states and health status. Mouse tears contain sex pheromones, but scientists have not previously demonstrated that human crying is a form of chemical communication.
In the study, women watched sad films alone and captured their own tears. Later, 24 men smelled jars containing those women's tears or another substance. Men who sniffed tears judged pictures of women's faces to be less sexually attractive than did the other men. In a separate experiment, 50 men sniffed either tears or the second substance. Smelling tears reduced their sexual response and levels of testosterone in their saliva. The study also exposed 16 men to tears and measured their brain activity using magnetic resonance imaging. Men who sniffed tears showed lower activation in brain regions implicated in sexual arousal.
Robert Provine, who studies the evolution of behaviour at the University of Maryland, says that the results are consistent with previous suggestions that crying could reduce aggression. Testosterone is also responsible for hostility, and reducing aggression could be evolutionarily adaptive.
The results are fascinating. Perhaps more studies on the subject are needed.
The existence of pheromones -chemical signals that produce a social response- in humans has been debated for a long time. Investigation has shown that human sweat communicates information about identity, genetic relatedness, emotional states and health status. Mouse tears contain sex pheromones, but scientists have not previously demonstrated that human crying is a form of chemical communication.
In the study, women watched sad films alone and captured their own tears. Later, 24 men smelled jars containing those women's tears or another substance. Men who sniffed tears judged pictures of women's faces to be less sexually attractive than did the other men. In a separate experiment, 50 men sniffed either tears or the second substance. Smelling tears reduced their sexual response and levels of testosterone in their saliva. The study also exposed 16 men to tears and measured their brain activity using magnetic resonance imaging. Men who sniffed tears showed lower activation in brain regions implicated in sexual arousal.
Robert Provine, who studies the evolution of behaviour at the University of Maryland, says that the results are consistent with previous suggestions that crying could reduce aggression. Testosterone is also responsible for hostility, and reducing aggression could be evolutionarily adaptive.
The results are fascinating. Perhaps more studies on the subject are needed.
Adapted from an article by Janelle Weaver in Nature News. Picture by Punchstock.
En primer lugar un científico de Israel ha estudiado como las lágrimas de las mujeres pueden reducir los niveles de testosterona en los hombres, de la siguiente manera:
ResponderEliminarSe les hicieron ver películas tristes a un grupo de mujeres con el objetivo de conseguir sus lágrimas. A continuación 24 hombres olieron estas lágrimas. Estos mismos vieron después fotografías de varias mujeres y comprobaron que las veían menos atractivas que personas que no habían estado expuestas a esa prueba.
Como conclusión este científico comprobó que los hombres que habían olido las lágrimas femeninas tenían menos actividad cerebral en las regiones implicadas con la sexualidad que hombres ajenos a este tipo de prueba.
Robert Provine, a partir de estos resultados, pudo verificar la hipótesis sobre la reacción de las lágrimas femeninas en el nivel de testosterona masculino.
(Comentario personal)
Al leer este artículo nos ha parecido curioso y pensamos que aunque parezca un argumento sin importancia en el fondo sí la tiene (aunque resulta curioso).
Estamos a favor de que una mujer que está llorando puede resultar menos atractiva o puede reducir las ganas de ser observada por un hombre.
En cambio no estamos de acuerdo en que la atracción de un hombre hace a una mujer puede variar por el simple hecho de estar llorando o sonriendo (por ejemplo), ya que sigue siendo la misma persona.
Lidia García y Sandra Rojas
B1B
Female tears prevent sex in men
ResponderEliminarThe article talks about the fact that women’s tears reduce testosterone that is the principal male sex hormone.
The main idea of the article is that tears contain chemical signals that not only produce social response but also reduce male sexual response and levels of testosterone in their saliva.
There are four arguments in favour of this.
The first one: it has been shown that human sweat communicates information about identity.
These second one showns that men who sniffed tears judged pictures of women’s faces to be less sexually attractive than did the other men.
The third study exposed about that brain activity of that men who sniffed tears showed lower activation in brain regions that are implicated in sexual arousal.
The fourth one, according to Robert Provine, who studies the evolution of behaviour at the University of Maryland, said that the results can be considered were consistent an evolutionary adaptation in order to reduce male aggression with previous suggestions.
The only thing against the topic is that is that before those experiments, this had not been demonstrated.
In conclusion crying could reduce aggression.
Opinion.
After reading the text, we see that men react differently when they smell tears of women. This case got our attention because we can see that human’s behaviour of humans is more complicated than we think.
We agree that tears probably reduce testosterone in men
The most interesting idea was that the two experiments with water and tears, and the behaviour from form the men.
Hector y Janira
B1B