The scent of cuteness-neural signatures of infant body odors

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Max Planck School of Cognition
  • Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Abstract

The smell of the own baby is a salient cue for human kin recognition and bonding. We hypothesized that infant body odors function like other cues of the Kindchenschema by recruiting neural circuits of pleasure and reward. In two functional magnetic resonance imaging studies, we presented infantile and post-pubertal body odors to nulliparae and mothers (N = 78). All body odors increased blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) response and functional connectivity in circuits related to olfactory perception, pleasure and reward. Neural activation strength in pleasure and reward areas positively correlated with perceptual ratings across all participants. Compared to body odor of post-pubertal children, infant body odors specifically enhanced BOLD signal and functional connectivity in reward and pleasure circuits, suggesting that infantile body odors prime the brain for prosocial interaction. This supports the idea that infant body odors are part of the Kindchenschema. The additional observation of functional connectivity being related to maternal and kin state speaks for experience-dependent priming.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article numbernsae038
JournalSocial cognitive and affective neuroscience
Volume19
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 27 May 2024
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMedCentral PMC11192622
Scopus 85196919135
ORCID /0000-0002-6555-5854/work/175220694

Keywords

Keywords

  • Adult, Brain Mapping/methods, Brain/physiology, Child, Female, Humans, Infant, Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods, Male, Odorants, Olfactory Perception/physiology, Oxygen/blood, Pleasure/physiology, Reward, Smell/physiology, Young Adult