TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2017//
TI  - Human fear chemosignaling: evidence from a meta-analysis
JO  - Chemical senses
A1  - de Groot, Jasper H. B.
A1  - Smeets, Monique A. M.
SP  - 663
EP  - 673
VL  - 42
IS  - 8
N2  - Alarm pheromones are widely used in the animal kingdom. Notably, there are 26 published studies (N = 1652) highlighting a human capacity to communicate fear, stress, and anxiety via body odor from one person (66% males) to another (69% females). The question is whether the findings of this literature reflect a true effect, and what the average effect size is. These questions were answered by combining traditional meta-analysis with novel meta-analytical tools, p-curve analysis and p-uniform-techniques that could indicate whether findings are likely to reflect a true effect based on the distribution of P-values. A traditional random-effects meta-analysis yielded a small-to-moderate effect size (Hedges' g: 0.36, 95% CI: 0.31-0.41), p-curve analysis showed evidence diagnostic of a true effect (ps < 0.0001), and there was no evidence for publication bias. This meta-analysis did not assess the internal validity of the current studies; yet, the combined results illustrate the statistical robustness of a field in human olfaction dealing with the human capacity to communicate certain emotions (fear, stress, anxiety) via body odor.<br><br>© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0379-864X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bjx049
ID  - ref1
ER  -