Body-odor based assessments of sex and personality – Non-significant differences between blind and sighted odor raters

Body-odor based assessments of sex and personality – Non-significant differences between blind and sighted odor raters. Agnieszka Sorokowska, Anna Oleszkiewicz. Physiology & Behavior, June 24 2019, 112573. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2019.112573

Highlights
•    We tested if visual status modulates sensitivity to socially-relevant cues carried by body odors.
•    28 blind and 13 sighted people assessed sex, neuroticism and dominance of odor donors based on body odor samples.
•    Blind and sighted people did not differ in rating accuracy.

Abstract: People exhibit different sensitivity to the signaling properties of body odors in the social context. Here, we aimed to investigate whether visual status modulates sensitivity to socially-relevant cues carried by body odors and whether it affects psychophysical ratings of such smells. We compared abilities of 19 early-blind, 9 late-blind and 13 sighted people to accurately assess sex, neuroticism and dominance of odor donors based on body odor samples. We showed that early blind, late blind and sighted people do not differ in accuracy of sex and personality assessments based on body odor samples. Additionally, the three participating groups perceived the presented body odor samples as similarly intense, pleasant and attractive. We discuss our findings in the context of interpersonal olfactory communication and olfactory compensation.