Human pheromones, fact or fiction

In rare cases, supra-individual odors (e.g. chemical molecules found in all newborns or in all mature males from the same species) have been identified and their unconditional signal evaluation demonstrated within a same species. These signals are called pheromones . At first considered in an insect, the mulberry moth, the notion of the pheromone has been applied to any substance, volatile or not, emitted by an individual and perceived by a conspecific in which it elicits a definable behavioral or physiological response (see Chapter 1 for review, see [WYA 14]). Such pheromonal signals trigger physiological or behavioral automatisms, which are, in theory, innate. In other words, their effects do not depend on prior exposure or learning effects. 

These observations regarding pheromones are not conflicting with the view that humans have elaborate abilities to perceive and use conspecific body odors in several contexts of interindividual communication. By contrast, the ancient use of perfumes is now studied as a domain of interactions between 

---