The chemical bases of human sociality

Abstract

Communication is the foundation of sociality and is made possible by a diverse set of media. Research on human communication has primarily focused on auditory and visual modalities. Here, we discuss the role of the olfactory modality as an important medium of human communication and highlight the significance of interpersonal chemosignaling in the context of emerging research that investigates the adaptive effects of human chemosignals on cognitive-affective processes.