Across phyla, chemosignals are a widely used form of social communication and increasing evidence suggests that chemosensory communication is present also in humans. Chemosignals can transfer, via body odors, socially relevant information, such as specific information about identity or emotional states. However, findings on neural correlates of processing of body odors are divergent. The aims of this meta-analysis were to assess the brain areas involved in the perception of body odors (both neutral and emotional) and the specific activation patterns for the perception of neutral body odor (NBO) and emotional body odor (EBO). We conducted an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis on 16 experiments (13 studies) examining brain activity during body odors processing. We found that the contrast EBO versus NBO resulted in significant convergence in the right middle frontal gyrus and the left cerebellum, whereas the pooled meta-analysis combining all the studies of human odors showed significant convergence in the right inferior frontal gyrus. No significant cluster was found for NBOs. However, our findings also highlight methodological heterogeneity across the existing literature. Further neuroimaging studies are needed to clarify and support the existing findings on neural correlates of processing of body odors.

中文翻译：

---

人体化学信号和大脑活动：人体气味处理的初步荟萃分析。

在整个门中，化学信号是一种广泛使用的社会交流形式，越来越多的证据表明化学感应交流也存在于人类中。化学信号可以通过体味传递社会相关信息，例如关于身份或情绪状态的特定信息。然而，关于处理体味的神经相关性的发现是不同的。这项荟萃分析的目的是评估与体味（中性和情绪性）感知相关的大脑区域以及中性体味 (NBO) 和情绪性体味 (EBO) 感知的特定激活模式。我们对 16 项实验（13 项研究）进行了激活似然估计 (ALE) 荟萃分析，以检查体味处理过程中的大脑活动。我们发现对比 EBO 与 NBO 导致右侧额中回和左侧小脑的显着收敛，而结合所有人类气味研究的汇总荟萃分析显示右侧额下回显着收敛。没有发现 NBO 的显着集群。然而，我们的发现也突出了现有文献中方法论的异质性。需要进一步的神经影像学研究来澄清和支持有关处理体味的神经相关性的现有发现。我们的发现还突出了现有文献中方法论的异质性。需要进一步的神经影像学研究来澄清和支持有关处理体味的神经相关性的现有发现。我们的发现还突出了现有文献中方法论的异质性。需要进一步的神经影像学研究来澄清和支持有关处理体味的神经相关性的现有发现。