Pheromones and food odors add more than just color to your world
Picturing incentive salience
The details of how a metaphorical olfactory/pheromonal “picture’ is generated by electrical signals can be compared to the way color perception is generated because both require sensory input to be transduced to an electrical signal. This picture may be worth a thousand words for comparison.
Instructions for viewing: Stare at the colored dots on this woman’s nose for 30 seconds, then quickly look at a white wall or ceiling (or anything pure white) and start blinking rapidly. (You can click on the picture to enlarge it.)
Your brain processes the image and adds color to the afterimage you see via gene activation in three different receptors for color vision!
In this context, we can compare color vision and the discriminatory power of the brain when it processes olfactory/pheromonal input associated with food odors or pheromones. The comparison depends only on what is known about the complexity of mathematical calculations and self-engineering of genetic changes. This complexity is demonstrated in the discriminatory power of other animals that contain the genomes of species from microbes to man. In no other animal is the response to visual input more important than the response to food odors and pheromones. The molecular basis for the response is the same across all species.
Molecular biology
The genomes of cells in organisms appear to self-engineer genetic changes that depend on environmental factors, which include ecological factors. Â The effect of environmental factors on self-engineered genetic and cellular changes is driven by electrical signals.
The molecular biology of vision
Rods and cones are photoreceptive cells. The absorption of a single quantum of photic energy by only one of the approximately one hundred million molecules of rhodopsin contained in a single cell of a photoreceptive rod is sufficient to generate and transmit an electrical signal. Cones transfer photic energy from a visual signal to an electrical signal, which is perceived as color.
The evolution of three receptors for color vision is largely responsible for the claim that the impact of pheromones on primate behavior has decreased. In theory, the evolution of ecological niches and increased complexity of the social environment caused expansion of the primate cortex and increased intelligence. Theoretically, increased primate intelligence decreased the importance of pheromonal regulation of behavior. According to this theory, color vision became more important to primates, including more highly intelligent humans. However, this theory ignores scientific evidence for the incentive salience of olfactory/pheromonal input across all species from microbes to man.
The molecular biology of olfaction
Like it is with visual input, the incentive salience of other sensory input is directly linked to generation of electrical signals. For example, in humans, odors are chemical signals that are physiologically transduced to electrical signals by receptors in nerve cells of brain tissue. Each of these nerve cells expresses only one of several hundred olfactory receptors.
All possible combinations of a blend of one set of only twenty odors would yield over one million unique mixtures. Although no one has calculated how many odors each of us might be exposed to during our lifetime, it is probably safe to say that many millions of unique mixtures of twenty or more odors are possible. It is conceivable that these mixtures would generate olfactory/pheromonal “pictures” of environmental factors with incalculably more precision than pictures that are commonly associated with color vision.
The incentive salience of odor
Self-engineering of genetic changes enables self / non-self recognition in other organisms that cannot see. Â This ensures bacteria do not eat their conspecifics. But they are willing to ingest the DNA of heterospecifics, which indicates they recognize the difference between chemical signals from potential food source compared to species specific chemical signals. When no food is available, bacteria respond to species specific pheromones and cease reproduction. Unlike some species, they do not cannibalize each other, and they do not sexually reproduce. When sufficient food enables fertility and sexual reproduction in other species, the pheromones of a potential mate of the opposite sex signal an opportunity for self / non-self sexual reproduction.
The automagical addition of color to the image above is an example of what the nutrition-dependent brains of men and women can do with photic stimuli and three different receptors that generate the electrical signals associated with visual assessment of a photographic image. For comparison, we can only wonder about how much information is processed when odor receptors that number in the hundreds generate electrical signals associated with olfactory/pheromonal assessment of environmental factors associated with the colors we see. But there is little wonder about the relative incentive salience of olfactory/pheromonal compared to visual input.
In mammals, food odors and pheromones cause the electrical activation of genes in hormone-secreting nerve cells of brain tissue. This links them directly to effects on hormones that affect behavior via the required gene, cell, tissue, organ, organ system pathway. Now that you have seen what can be done by your brain with the three receptor that add color to your life, perhaps you can better imagine the role that your mind’s eyes play in the development of behavior associated with hundreds of receptors for olfactory/pheromonal input.
Although you cannot see the olfactory/pheromonal input that electrically activates self-engineered genetic changes, the relative incentive salience of environmental and social factors like food odors and pheromones should be clear. The misrepresentations of cause and effect associated with the evolution of primate color vision should be equally clear.
Primate color vision did not make humans primarily visual creatures because there is no reasonable comparison between the processing power of three receptors for color vision and hundreds of receptors for olfactory/pheromonal input. Simply put, there is no biological basis for a theory about the relative importance of color vision to intelligence, or anything else.
No individual of any species survives without proper nutrition, which is also required for reproduction. Pheromones and food odors are chemical cues that are clearly more important to reproduction than are visual cues in species from microbes to man.
Understanding the incentive salience of sensory input from the environment requires only minimal knowledge of the basic principles of biology and levels of biological organization, which are often misrepresented when researchers link genes or hormones to behavior without indicating what pathway it is that links the required gene activation to the effects on the hormones that affect the behavior. Understanding the difference between gene activation and gene expression is essential to recognizing misrepresentations of biologically based cause and effect.
Want more on the same topic?
Swipe/Drag Left and Right To Browse Related Posts:
Wars caused by metaphors: 1964
3 MIN READ
0
Magic traits vs biophysical constraints (1)
3 MIN READ
0
#SFN2019 to 2012: Hiding the facts (2)
6 MIN READ
0
Abiogenesis vs microRNA biogenesis (3)
3 MIN READ
0
Michael Bloomberg for President (NOT) in 2020
2 MIN READ
0
The tipping point (revisted): 69,000 publications
4 MIN READ
0
Light-activated error-free DNA repair (4)
3 MIN READ
0
Pheromones biophysically constrain base editing and RNA editing
3 MIN READ
0
From base editing to RNA editing (2)
7 MIN READ
0
Energy-dependent structure and function: Until death (5)
4 MIN READ
0
Your indifference is killing you and others
5 MIN READ
0
Energy-dependent physical and biophysical constraints (10)
8 MIN READ
0
Energy-dependent physical and biophysical constraints (7)
2 MIN READ
0
Energy-dependent physical and biophysical constraints (3)
2 MIN READ
0
MicroRNAs GnRH and the failure of sex research
7 MIN READ
0
Food energy-dependent cell type differentiation (2)
10 MIN READ
0
Food energy-dependent epigenetic adaptation (3)
3 MIN READ
0
Food energy-dependent epigenetic adaptation (2)
< 1 MIN READ
0
Virus-driven downsizing of the human brain (4)
2 MIN READ
0
Dobzhansky 1973 and precision medicine (5)
3 MIN READ
0
Energy-dependent alternative splicings 1996 – 2016 (2)
5 MIN READ
0
Energy-dependent self-organization and self repair
8 MIN READ
0
Explorers who do not know what is known (2)
6 MIN READ
0
Tasting light links energy from creation to adaptation
9 MIN READ
0
Hypothesis free pseudoscience vs facts (5)
6 MIN READ
0
Non-random pheromone-controlled cell type differentiation
3 MIN READ
0
Biophysically constrained cell type differentiation
3 MIN READ
0
Food supplement or licensed immunostimulant?
6 MIN READ
0
The Mind’s Eyes (revisited)
10 MIN READ
0
Cracking the Olfactory Code?
5 MIN READ
0
Modelling life scientifically: RNA-mediated events
12 MIN READ
0
Energy-dependent RNA methylation (6)
9 MIN READ
0
The tipping point? 50, 000 publications (2)
2 MIN READ
0
Energy-dependent creation and entropy
4 MIN READ
0
Magic, Miracle, or Molecular Mechanism?
10 MIN READ
0
Juvenile hormone links atoms to ecosystems
3 MIN READ
0
Genes, orchid odors, and pheromones from blonds
5 MIN READ
0
RNA-mediated everything
4 MIN READ
0
Human pheromone deniers: What’s next?
5 MIN READ
0
Mechanisms of stress: from genes to cancer
9 MIN READ
0
MicroRNA controlled growth and brain development
7 MIN READ
0
“New” epigenetic mechanism for lifelong learning?
3 MIN READ
0
Unconscious affect (revisited)
2 MIN READ
0
Ignoring top-down causation
2 MIN READ
0
Appetite for ingesting theories (raw)
< 1 MIN READ
0
A special issue on nutritional epigenetics
5 MIN READ
0
Effect and affect of a single base-pair change
4 MIN READ
0
RNA-mediated silencing of a chromosome
3 MIN READ
0
Feedback loops link insects to human brains
2 MIN READ
0
Methylation maintains cell type differences
3 MIN READ
0
Quantum correlations/pseudoscience
3 MIN READ
0
From Hydra to humans vs a Lakatosian research program
4 MIN READ
0
Sackler Colloquium: Effects or AFFECTS on Behavior
2 MIN READ
0
Ecological adaptations reported as evolution in insects and mammals
4 MIN READ
0
Sexual differentiation of cell types in plants
2 MIN READ
0
A model of MHC 'evolution'
2 MIN READ
0
No understanding of biodiversity
2 MIN READ
0
Eliminating evolutionary theory
3 MIN READ
0
2014 and 2004 Nobel Prize in Medicine
3 MIN READ
0
RNA-directed DNA methylation and RNA-mediated events
5 MIN READ
1
Behavior (3): All responses are RNA-mediated in bees
3 MIN READ
0
Behavior (2): All responses are RNA-mediated not genetically-determined
4 MIN READ
0
Pattern recognition and conserved receptors (TAARs)
5 MIN READ
0
Evolutionary heritage or ecological adaptation? Racism versus reality
4 MIN READ
0
Insect homology and diversity attributed to mutations
2 MIN READ
0
A microRNA-mediated mechanism that is epigenetically inherited
2 MIN READ
0
Epimutations: Attacking pseudoscientific dogmas
4 MIN READ
0
Order and disorder: Ecological adaptations not mutations
6 MIN READ
0
Drunks and Monkeys: Pseudoscientific nonsense
2 MIN READ
0
Behavior is receptor-mediated
10 MIN READ
0
Ecologically linked adapted ants and brains
2 MIN READ
0
Nutrient-dependent cooperation vs cannibalism (video)
2 MIN READ
0
96 fixed amino acid substitutions, not 96 genes
6 MIN READ
0
Pulses of olfactory/pheromonal input
2 MIN READ
0
Social experiences epigenetically effect gene networks
2 MIN READ
0
Nutrient-dependent pheromone-controlled stickleback evolution
2 MIN READ
0
Functional coding variants are not mutations
2 MIN READ
0
Understanding the role of mutations and evolution
4 MIN READ
0
Evolution: innovations may have non-adaptive origins (sans mutations)
2 MIN READ
0
Pheromones and cancer
4 MIN READ
0
Are pheromones responsible for human body odour assessment?
2 MIN READ
0
Nutrient-dependent / pheromone-controlled social structure
2 MIN READ
0
Random mutations: nothing adaptive in 3 billion years
< 1 MIN READ
0
Hormones effect sensitivity to androsterone
2 MIN READ
0
Evolved development of olfactory systems
2 MIN READ
0
A “new” view of evolution sans mutations
< 1 MIN READ
0
Epigenetics and metabolism converge with pheromone production
2 MIN READ
0
Epigenetic maintenance of transcription / neuronal migration
2 MIN READ
0
Epigenetics and evolutionary success
< 1 MIN READ
0
Non-random evolution of a “molecular handshake”
2 MIN READ
0
Adaptive evolution: Genetic selection against some disorders
3 MIN READ
0
Thinking about what we know (or not)
2 MIN READ
0
A mathematical model of phenotypic cause, effects on genes, and affects on behavior
2 MIN READ
0
Functional vomeronasal receptor genes in primates?
2 MIN READ
0
Non random adaptive evolution
< 1 MIN READ
0
The hormone-miRNA axis, life span, and sexual orientation
3 MIN READ
0
Fish Odor Syndrome
< 1 MIN READ
0
Is there a model for that?
3 MIN READ
0
One of the clearest examples of epigenetic effects
< 1 MIN READ
0
Pheromone-induced learning: a NEW model?
2 MIN READ
0
Epigenetic effects underlie sexual preferences (duh, and food preferences)
2 MIN READ
0
The genetics myth meets the great pheromone myth
2 MIN READ
0
A key mutational event? More story-telling. Olfaction modulates vision.
4 MIN READ
0
A key mutational event? That’s not very likely.
3 MIN READ
0
Mutated genes and accidental intelligence?
< 1 MIN READ
0
Desmond Morris Syndrome: No selective advantage
2 MIN READ
0
Olfactory modulation of visual perception
2 MIN READ
0
Consequences and Evolution: The Cause That Works Backwards
4 MIN READ
0
Genetic Influences on Epigenetically Effected Disease
2 MIN READ
0
Why we love: Helen Fisher
< 1 MIN READ
0
Disorders of development: altered microRNA / messenger RNA balance
< 1 MIN READ
0
Eat like a monkey; act like a monkey
2 MIN READ
0
Do molecular mechanisms vary across species?
2 MIN READ
0
Creation vs Evolution: Expression of a newly found gene
2 MIN READ
0
Epistasis: Epigenetic effects of nutrient chemicals and their metabolism to pheromones
< 1 MIN READ
0
Sex differences in Alzheimer's and everything else
2 MIN READ
0
Sex differences in Alzheimer’s and everything else
2 MIN READ
0
Are human pheromones chemosignals?
2 MIN READ
0
The Knowing Nose: Chemical Signals Communicate Human Emotions
< 1 MIN READ
0
The logic of gene regulatory networks
3 MIN READ
0
Creating new genes (and controlling diversity)
2 MIN READ
0
How Species Diversify
2 MIN READ
0
The same neural mechanisms are at work in worms and humans
2 MIN READ
0
Diet epigenetically effects development of the primate brain
< 1 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones determine our social behavior (REJECTED)
3 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones: another attempt to change the concept
3 MIN READ
0
Nobel laureate challenges psychologists to clean up their act
2 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones and the fusiform fooled you area for face recognition
3 MIN READ
0
Embracing galaxy-wide, cellular, and brain complexity
2 MIN READ
0
“Just-So” stories vs scientific explanations
2 MIN READ
0
Adaptive evolution or not: cone receptors in the eye vs odor receptors
2 MIN READ
0
Insect to human cognition
2 MIN READ
0
Docosahexaenoic acid vs. creative use of mutations in natural selection
3 MIN READ
0
Mischaracterizations of adaptive evolution by psychologists and biologists
2 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones and the epigenetic effects of isolation
2 MIN READ
0
Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance of sexual orientation
2 MIN READ
0
Unconscious affects on incalculable genomic interactions
3 MIN READ
0
Natural selection: New insights are unlikely
< 1 MIN READ
0
Natural Selection and the Complexity of the Genome
2 MIN READ
0
ENCODE: extant vs extinct species and a clash of world views
4 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones: an epigenetic continuum from microbes to mammals
3 MIN READ
0
Biological facts constrain proponents of random mutations theory
2 MIN READ
0
Pheromones, Reciprocity, and Prosocial Behavior
3 MIN READ
0
Is the language of God the god problem? (1530 words)
6 MIN READ
0
Envisioning, hindsight bias, plagiarism, or cheating
3 MIN READ
0
The Epigenetics of Drug Development and Cholesterol Levels
< 1 MIN READ
0
Woefully ignorant politicians and popular science
2 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones, nutrition, DNA, epigenetics (2)
2 MIN READ
0
Epigenetic effects on the evolution of behavior
2 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones and diet-mediated life-extension
< 1 MIN READ
0
Copulins: Human pheromones effect physiology and affect social behavior
2 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones and the definition of life
2 MIN READ
0
Chemical signaling may shed light on how the brain reacts to its environment
2 MIN READ
0
More bird-brained behavior
2 MIN READ
0
Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance via nutrient chemicals
1 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones and IQ via neurogenic and socio-cognitive niche construction
2 MIN READ
0
Human Pheromones: Diversity of signaling pathways and a common response
< 1 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones are like sugar (and spice)
< 1 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones in business strategy
< 1 MIN READ
0
Is oxygen required for sensing nutrient chemicals and pheromones?
2 MIN READ
0
Flies Evolve to Count (not)
< 1 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones and altruism
3 MIN READ
0
Human Pheromones and Multi-level selection
< 1 MIN READ
0
Nutrient mixture and memory in patients with early Alzheimer’s
< 1 MIN READ
0
The thrill is gone; how to get it back
2 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones and inner conflict about evolution (1102 words)
4 MIN READ
0
Receptor-mediated biological cause and effect
2 MIN READ
0
A detailed model of physical reality and natural selection (722 words)
3 MIN READ
0
Hacking the Genome
< 1 MIN READ
0
Human Pheromones and Comparative Epigenomics
2 MIN READ
0
ecological social neurogenic niche
2 MIN READ
0
Bickering theorists: opinions about selfish genes and group selection
2 MIN READ
1
Human pheromones: Olfaction, odor receptors, learning, memory, mood, brains and behavior
< 1 MIN READ
0
A nutrient chemical and pheromone-dependent neurogenic niche
2 MIN READ
0
Passing On Stress
2 MIN READ
0
Human pheromone- and nutrient-dependent brain development and behavior
2 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones and the visual appeal of other people (Part Three)
2 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones and the visual appeal of other people (Part Two)
2 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones and the visual appeal of other people (Part one)
2 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones and brain development
2 MIN READ
0
Pre-existing genetic variability or random mutations: a matter of priorities and choices
2 MIN READ
0
Human Pheromones and Common Scents: Plants and Perfume
< 1 MIN READ
0
Adam’s rib: Pheromones and the adaptive evolution of human sexuality
2 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones and your immune system
< 1 MIN READ
0
People select specific fragrances that suit their individual body odor
< 1 MIN READ
0
Human Pheromones: extremely technical representation of the concept
2 MIN READ
0
Human Pheromones: but No VNO; No Erox; No Human Pheromone Sciences
3 MIN READ
0
Food odors and social odors
2 MIN READ
0
No fooling; visual appeal is not determined by what we see
2 MIN READ
0
A fallacious leap? Ancestral and derived traits
3 MIN READ
0
Modeling odor processing in microbes, mice, and mankind
2 MIN READ
0
Human Pheromones in Socioaffective Neuroscience & Psychology
2 MIN READ
0
Love is a receptor-mediated event: the pervasive influence of the late Robert L. Moss
3 MIN READ
0
Exercise Alters Epigenetics
2 MIN READ
0
How could antibiotics alleviate symptoms of schizophrenia?
2 MIN READ
0
Explaining a good theory
< 1 MIN READ
0
Genes not culture drive humans forward (an antithetical approach)
< 1 MIN READ
0
Human Pheromones: 2010 Powerpoint slides and 2011 poster presentation
2 MIN READ
0
Is Love in the Air? Human Pheromones and Axillary Chemistry by George Preti
3 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones and food odors
< 1 MIN READ
0
Another Remembered Present
2 MIN READ
0
Misrepresentations of biologically based cause and effect:
3 MIN READ
0
Timing is key in the proper wiring of the brain: study
2 MIN READ
0
Behavioral epigenetics
2 MIN READ
0
Cause and effect in biology
< 1 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones provide clues to personality
< 1 MIN READ
0
Show me the science!
5 MIN READ
0
Baiting the behaviorist(s)
3 MIN READ
0
Theory versus biological facts: Mental modules and models for behavior
2 MIN READ
0
Ethics, aphrodisiacs, and pheromones
< 1 MIN READ
0
Digit ratio does not predict attractiveness of body odor
< 1 MIN READ
0
Androstenone odor is less unpleasant for some women
< 1 MIN READ
0
An organizing principle for our sense of smell
< 1 MIN READ
0
Epigenetics of food odors, nutrition, and pheromones
< 1 MIN READ
0
Pheromones and falling in love (circa 1974)
< 1 MIN READ
0
The Demise of Guys
< 1 MIN READ
0
Trust the science. Don’t trust the hype
2 MIN READ
0
Men and women who stare at goats…
2 MIN READ
0
The Sex Lives of Insects: Part III
3 MIN READ
0
The Sex Lives of Insects (Part II)
3 MIN READ
0
The Sex Lives of Insects
< 1 MIN READ
0
The epigenetics of food choice and mate choice
< 1 MIN READ
0
Pheromones and detectable odors
2 MIN READ
0
Pheromone-enhanced behavior in sexually inexperienced females
2 MIN READ
0
The “yuck” factor: aversion to social odors?
2 MIN READ
0
Avian ‘Axe effect’ attracts attention of females and males
2 MIN READ
0
The Mind’s Eyes: Mindful modeling of brain directed behavior
2 MIN READ
0
Study results: Human pheromones affect women’s behavior
< 1 MIN READ
0
Human Pheromones and the Biology of Behavior
5 MIN READ
0
Honeybees, food odors, and perfume
< 1 MIN READ
0
Sniffing out your nightlife / Pheromone-infused nightclubs
< 1 MIN READ
0
Erox rises from the ashes
< 1 MIN READ
0
Avian recognition of human faces
< 1 MIN READ
0
Human Pheromones Affect Women's Behavior
2 MIN READ
0
A lesser role for olfaction and pheromones in humans?
1 MIN READ
0
Creating a Myth
< 1 MIN READ
0
Study results: Human pheromones influence human behavior
2 MIN READ
0
Wikipedia comments by James V. Kohl
5 MIN READ
0
Natural scent of women linked to increased testosterone and seduction
< 1 MIN READ
0
Too many good-smelling males is not good
< 1 MIN READ
0
Human pheromones in tears automagically effect testosterone
2 MIN READ
0
Dialogue on pheromones: Avery Gilbert / James V. Kohl
2 MIN READ
0
Mammalian pheromones are not a myth
3 MIN READ
0
Study Results: Human pheromones increase flirtatious behavior and ratings of attraction
2 MIN READ
0
Results: increased flirtatious behavior and self-reported attraction
2 MIN READ
0
Is it what he or she sees in you, or is it your pheromones?
2 MIN READ
0
Conditioned sexual arousal to odor
2 MIN READ
0
Men perspire, women glow
< 1 MIN READ
0
Comparing visual to olfactory/pheromonal input
< 1 MIN READ
0
Food preferences and mate preferences
< 1 MIN READ
0
Presentation on Human Pheromones delivered on August 3, 2010
2 MIN READ
0
American and Canadian Mensa Presentation
< 1 MIN READ
0
Pheromones of pregnant women effect prolactin in men
< 1 MIN READ
0
The Great Pheromone Myth (opinion/review)
19 MIN READ
0
Welcome to Pheromones.com
< 1 MIN READ
0
Scent of a woman: Men’s Testosterone Responses to Women's Scent
< 1 MIN READ
0
Earlier evidence: pheromones influence testosterone in men
< 1 MIN READ
0
