Chemosignals of Fear Enhance Cognitive Performance in Humans
Abstract
It is well documented across phyla that animals experiencing stress and fear produce chemical warning signals that can lead to behavioral, endocrinological, and immunological changes in the recipient animals of the same species. Humans distinguish between fear and other emotional chemosignals based on olfactory cues. Here, we study the effect of human fear chemosignals on the speed and accuracy of cognitive performance. In a double-blind experiment, female participants performed a word-association task while smelling one of the three types of olfactory stimuli: fear sweat, neutral sweat, and control odor carrier. We found that the participants exposed to the fear condition performed more accurately and yet with no sacrifice for speed on meaningful word conditions than those under either the neutral or the control condition. At the same time, they performed slower on tasks that contained ambiguous content. Possible factors that could introduce bias, such as individual differences due to anxiety, verbal skills, and perceived qualities of the smells, were ruled out. Our results demonstrate that human fear chemosignals enhance cognitive performances in the recipient. We suggest that this effect originates from learned associations, including greater cautiousness and concomitant changes in cognitive strategies.
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Exposure to negative emotions heightened caution and vigilance in cognitive tasks.
“Exposure to negative emotions heightened caution and vigilance in cognitive tasks (Chen, 2006)”
From The scent of emotions: A systematic review of human intra‐ and interspecific chemical communication of emotions (2020) · cites this paper as Chen, 2006
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An initial evaluation of the functions of human olfaction
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Chemosignals communicate human emotions
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“The influence of emotional chemosignals on cognitive tasks like performing word association while smelling one of the three types of olfactory stimuli was used by one research group (Chen, 2006).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialNo fear no risk! Human risk behavior is affected by chemosensory anxiety signals
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“, [24,25]), which has been measured by the caution manifested in a word choice task [24], the accuracy on an easy visual search task [25], the speed with which facial expressions were classified [26].”
MethodChemical communication of fear: A case of male-female asymmetry
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- Authors
- Chen, D.
- Affiliations
- Rice University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Chen, D.
- Venue
- Chemical Senses
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2006-03-01
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 415-423
- ISSN
- 0379-864X (ISSN-L)
- 1464-3553
- OpenAlex
- W2108481327
- Cited by
- 121
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 2.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Chemical Senses (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (R03 DC4956, R03DC004956)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Advanced Chemical Sensor Technologies
- Keywords
- olfactory cues, cognitive performance, word association task, stress, learned associations, cautiousness, cognitive strategies
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Cognition, Emotions, Female, Humans, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, Odorants, Pheromones, Reference Values, Sensitivity and Specificity, Smell, Stimulation, Chemical, Videotape Recording
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