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Control concerns

Posted by TogetherinParis on 07 Jun 2013 at 18:11 GMT

Congratulations on a breakthrough paper! I have only a couple of trivial quibbles. Auto-emissions/auto-receptions went uncontrolled. Of course, no one has ever controlled for this, so it may be a new idea to everyone. The brush border pheromone sensing areas covering about half of the upper respiratory system should have some isolation from other non-experimental semiochemical sources. By covering each subject's own axillae with petroleum jelly or by placing an odorant barrier between those pheromone receptive surfaces and the subject's own (and experimenter's own) armpits, the sensitivity of pheromone recognition might be more pronounced. With isolation of the pheromone reception areas of the upper respiratory system and the gut from axillary pheromone sources, behavior changes, sometimes dramatically, too, over the course of a few days.
Of course, the concentrations of test chemical are non-physiological, but given the lack of distraction control, larger concentrations allowed statistically significant changes. Good job of overcoming a significant experimental difficulty! Bravo!

Competing interests declared: Nicholson B. (2011). Exocrinology The Science of Love Human Pheromones in Criminology, Psychiatry, and Medicine. Amazon.