article_snippet: and it was particularly prevalent when greeting people of the same sex.
article_snippet: Professor Noam Sobel, chair of neurobiology at the Weizmann Institute of Science, who led the research, said: 'It is well-known that we emit odours that influence the behaviour and perception of others but, unlike other mammals, we don't sample those odours from each other overtly. '
article_snippet: Many other animals use smell as a key part of learning more about each other, such as dogs that will regularly sniff each other upon greeting.
article_snippet: As we don’t overtly sniff each other like other mammals, we needed a way to pass olfactory data between our peers.
article_snippet: Touching the nose after physical contact (like above) may be a way of smelling chemical signals on others .
article_snippet: researchers believe this may be due to participants unconsciously comparing participants own scent to that of the opposite sex.
article_snippet: The participants in the study found that increased airflow through a sample of participants nostrils also accompanied the face touching, indicating that The participants in the study were sniffing.
article_snippet: When the scientists added strong artificial odours to wrists of those greeting the participants using scents associated with male or female body odour, the length of time The participants in the study spent sniffing decreased.
article_snippet: However, when The participants in the study added perfume to the wrists of those greeting, the amount of sniffing , The participants in the study found the amount of time participants touched The participants in the study face for doubled.
article_snippet: it could also be because the participants found the smells more pleasing than the body odour.
highlights_snippet: The sniffing doubled when people of the same gender greeted each other .
  
highlights_snippet: Those of opposite sex sniffed