MRD
MHC-Mediated Relatedness Detector
Class: IV - Unknown or Disputed
EPA Total Score: 7 /100
Russell, M. J. (1976). Human olfactory communication. Nature, 260, 520-522.
Abstract: In Exp I, 16 male and 13 female undergraduates, who had not used any type of body deodorant for 24 hrs before the study wore a white shirt as an undergarment for 24 hrs. Ss were then individually tested in a 3-choice discrimination test (S's own shirt, a strange male's shirt, and a strange female's shirt) and a 2-choice discrimination test (the same strange male and strange female shirts) and asked to indicate the sex of the wearer. 13 of the males and 9 of the females answered correctly in each test. In Exp II, 10 healthy full-term breast-feeding mothers and their infants served as Ss, and infants were exposed to either a clean breast pad, their own mother's pad, a strange mother's pad, or a pad that had been moistened with raw cow's milk. At 2 days of age there was no response to any of the pads. At 2 wks, Ss showed general arousal and minimal, if any, discrimination. At 6 wks, however, 6 of the 10 Ss tested could discriminate their own mother's odor from that of a strange mother, and responded to their own mother's odor by a pattern of orienting and sucking that was markedly different from their response to the odors of the strange mother and the cow's milk. At least 6 Ss showed a positive attraction to the mother and only 1 responded at all to the strange odor. Results suggest that humans have a phenomenal system which operates at a very early age. The possibility of maternal scent marking in humans is noted. (
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10/100
Submitted by DJGlass
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Supporting Evidence is evidence that suggests that this trait is an Evolved Psychological Adaptation (EPA) - i.e., that it has been shaped by natural selection to solve a particular adaptive problem.
Challenging Evidence
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0/100
Submitted by DJGlass
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Challenging Evidence is evidence that suggests that this trait is not an EPA - e.g., that it is a product of cultural learning or genetic drift, or maybe it does not exist at all. However over each line of evidence for a description.