Although chemical signaling is an essential mode of communication in most vertebrates, it has long been viewed as having negligible effects in humans. However, a growing body of evidence shows that the sense of smell affects human behavior in social contexts ranging from affiliation and parenting to disease avoidance and social threat. This article aims to (a) introduce research on human chemical communication in the historical context of the behavioral sciences; (b) provide a balanced overview of recent advances that describe individual differences in the emission of semiochemicals and the neural mechanisms underpinning their perception, that together demonstrate communicative function; and (c) propose directions for future research toward unraveling the molecular principles involved and understanding the variability in the generation, transmission, and reception of chemical signals in increasingly ecologically valid conditions. Achieving these goals will enable us to address some important societal challenges but are within reach only with the aid of genuinely interdisciplinary approaches.

中文翻译：

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人类化学通讯研究的过去、现在和未来。

尽管化学信号传导是大多数脊椎动物的重要通讯方式，但长期以来人们认为它对人类的影响可以忽略不计。然而，越来越多的证据表明，嗅觉影响人类在社会环境中的行为，从归属和养育子女到避免疾病和社会威胁。本文旨在 (a) 介绍行为科学历史背景下的人类化学通讯研究；(b) 平衡地概述最近的进展，描述化学信息素排放的个体差异以及支撑其感知的神经机制，共同证明沟通功能；(c) 为未来的研究提出方向，以阐明所涉及的分子原理，并了解在日益有效的生态条件下化学信号的产生、传输和接收的可变性。实现这些目标将使我们能够应对一些重要的社会挑战，但只有借助真正的跨学科方法才能实现。