This contrasts with the results of the previous study, in which the brain's response to a male hormone (AND) was almost exactly the same, regardless of the smeller. In other words, the brain's response to female compound differed slightly depending on whether a man or woman was doing the smelling. The way that EST activated the hypothalamus, however, was not identical in the two groups. Much like heterosexual men, lesbians responded to EST but not AND. They then compared these results to those obtained from their previous studies on heterosexual men and women. The team gave 12 lesbians a sniff of AND and EST and used positron emission tomography to measure blood flow in their brains. Neurologist Ivanka Savic-Berglund of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues wondered how lesbian women would respond to these substances. For them, EST hits the spot ( ScienceNOW, ). Heterosexual men, on the other hand, don't respond to AND. In response to a whiff of AND, heterosexual women and homosexual men respond in the same way: The front part of their brain's hypothalamus, which plays a role in sexual behavior, starts to rev up. Nevertheless, the compounds do seem to have sex-specific effects. But neither has yet met the strict criteria that would define it as a pheromone.
Potential candidates include AND, a progesterone-derived molecule found in men's sweat, and EST, which is related to estrogen and found in pregnant women's urine. Whether the substances also play a role in human mating is less clear. The pheromones of female moths, for example, can attract a mate from several kilometers away. Many animals use the sex-specific scents to sniff out their partner of choice. Pheromones are the ultimate aphrodisiacs. The findings could lead to new insights into the neural basis of sexual preference and behavior, say the researchers.
Demographic information is being collected for research purposes only and will be kept strictly confidential.When it comes to responding to pheromonelike chemical signals, lesbian women are much more like heterosexual men than their straight counterparts, according to a new study.
The test is also available in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Arabic, Italian, Malay, French, Spanish, German, Hungarian, Dutch, Korean, and Japanese.īefore we get to the test itself, we'll ask you a few basic questions about yourself. If you are conducting research and would like to collect raw data for a group that is taking this test - for a business, research study, classroom activity, or other purpose - please see our Group Testing Instructions. This test will show you where you are on the Sexual Orientation Continuum, and it will also calculate your Sexual Orientation Range, an estimate of how much flexibility you have in expressing your sexual orientation. Robert Epstein, one of America's most distinguished research psychologists (follow on Twitter at The test has been empirically validated with a sample of more than 600,000 people in 219 countries and territories.Īlthough many people believe that everyone is either "straight" (heterosexual) or "gay" (homosexual), sexual orientation actually exists on a continuum. You are about to take the Epstein Sexual Orientation Inventory (ESOI), a test of sexual orientation designed by Dr.