Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34255999›Full record

ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2021

Human sickness detection is not dependent on cultural experience.

Artin Arshamian, Tina Sundelin, Ewelina Wnuk, Carolyn O'Meara, Niclas Burenhult, Gabriela Garrido Rodriguez, Mats Lekander, Mats J Olsson, Julie Lasselin, John Axelsson and 1 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Networks, cultures, and institutions: Toward a social immunology.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2021
    Article
  3. Immunoactivation Affects Perceived Body Odor and Facial but Not Vocal Attractiveness.Evolutionary psychology : an international journal of evolutionary approaches to psychology and behavior
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Artin ArshamianDepartment of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Tina SundelinDepartment of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Ewelina WnukDepartment of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK.
Carolyn O'MearaInstituto de Investigaciones Filológicas, National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico.
Niclas BurenhultCentre for Languages and Literature, Lund University, Sweden.
Gabriela Garrido RodriguezSchool of Languages and Linguistics, CoEDL, The University of Melbourne, Australia.
Mats LekanderDepartment of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Mats J OlssonDepartment of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Julie LasselinDepartment of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
John AxelssonDepartment of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Asifa MajidDepartment of Psychology, University of York, York, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Animals across phyla can detect early cues of infection in conspecifics, thereby reducing the risk of contamination. It is unknown, however, if humans can detect cues of sickness in people belonging to communities with whom they have limited or no experience. To test this, we presented Western faces photographed 2 h after the experimental induction of an acute immune response to one Western and five non-Western communities, including small-scale hunter-gatherer and large urban-dwelling communities. All communities could detect sick individuals. There were group differences in performance but Western participants, who observed faces from their own community, were not systematically better than all non-Western participants. At odds with the common belief that sickness detection of an out-group member should be biased to err on the side of caution, the majority of non-Western communities were unbiased. Our results show that subtle cues of a general immune response are recognized across cultures and may aid in detecting infectious threats.

Indexed as

CuesHumanscross-culturaldisease avoidancefacial sickness detectionhunter-gathererinfectious diseaseout-group

Identifiers

PMID34255999
PMCPMC8277478

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.