ODORFULNESS BODy Odors duRing mindFULNess Effects on pSychophysiological response and in psychopathological Symptoms

Humans use several means for social communication including chemicals contained in sweat, the so-called human chemosignals (HC). HC can communicate emotional states: the perception of human sweat induces in receivers affective and behavioral changes partially reproducing the emotional state of the emitters. While the previous literature of HC focused mainly on negative emotions, positive emotions have been investigated only in very controlled, laboratory settings. Mindfulness meditation has been repeatedly reported to decrease global psychological distress, decrease symptoms of anxiety and depression and improve overall physical and mental well-being that can have an effect on HC production and inter-individual communication. Therefore, mindfulness can be used as a source for sweat-based positive signals. Starting from these pieces of evidence the project aims to: 1. investigate the psychophysiological correlates of HC perception in both healthy controls and patients 2. explore the application of HC to improve treatments such as Virtual Reality exposure/desensitization treatments 3. test the feasibility of mindfulness to produce specific HC related to positive mood and wellbeing. The project is organized in WPs: in WP1 HC will be collected during a mindfulness session and during an emotionally neutral condition (passive neutral movie watching). Sweat collection will be conducted using cotton pads according to standard procedures. Thirty-two healthy individuals (16 females) without any medical or psychiatric condition will be recruited. In the Mindfulness condition, the sweat will be collected during a guided Loving Kindness practice. In the neutral condition, sweat will be collected while watching emotionally neutral video. The volunteers will undergo both the conditions in a randomized order. WP2 and WP3 will evaluate the effect of mindfulness HC as compared to clean air and neutral HC in different settings. In both WPs, individuals with social anxiety and depressive symptoms will be recruited (while for WP2 a group of healthy controls will be recruited as well. We expect to recruit 25 subjects for each group and condition for a total of 225 subjects for the entire project. Only individuals with normal olfactory abilities, as measured with the “Sniffin' Sticks” test will be recruited. In WP2 we will study how HC affects psychophysiological perception of neutral faces, measuring heart rate variability, electroencephalography and skin conductance. In WP3 we will study the effect of HC as an add-on to Virtual Reality (VR). The project will undergo a full ethical approval and all the studies will be pre-registered. The project will improve basic research on the relationship between HC perception and emotions, providing an innovative baseline for further research. On the clinical side the project will have remarkable clinical implications for mood and anxiety disorders using HC to improve treatments such as VR.