effect of olfactory ovulation cues on males' attention allocation and perception of exertion

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of olfactory ovulation cues (i.e., female body odors) on a range of psychological, physiological, and behavioral indices in males during an exertive motor task. Eighty-eight male participants performed a handgrip squeezing task at 20% of maximum squeezing capacity to volitional fatigue. There were three conditions to the study: control, placebo, and ovulation. Researchers recoded participants' rate of perceived exertion (RPE), attention allocation, heart rate (HR), and skin conductance response (SCR). Multivariate analysis did not reveal significant differences among the groups. However, as task duration increased, small to large effect sizes (Cohen's d; d = .13 - .60) emerged between the ovulation and both the control and placebo groups for HR, SCR, and attention allocation. Effect size magnitude suggests female ovulation cues may have a delayed effect on males' attention and RPE during an exertive task. Future research should focus on alternative methods of collection and distribution of olfactory ovulation cues. To increase ecological validity, research also needs to test these effects by means of diverse tasks and settings (aerobic tasks, team tasks).