Hormonal Fingerprint and Sound Perception

We presented part of our findings about the impact of prenatal hormones on sound perception at the 30th International Congress of Audiology.

Did you know?

– Our inner-ear works like an amplifier. Depending on our gender, ethnicity, and age, we have a different perception of sound.
– Even people of the same age and with no particular hearing issue hear bass, speech, and high-pitch sounds differently.
– Some people hear a baby crying 4 times louder! They are super-amplifiers, and are sensitive to high-pitched sounds.
– Medium-amplifiers find it difficult to follow a conversation if there is background noise.
– Non-amplifiers are resistant to loudness and enjoy music with extra bass!

You can read more here: http://derval.blogspirit.com/archive/2010/03/24/hormonal-fingerprint-and-sound-perception.html

Invitation to the “Avant Premiere” in Amsterdam

I am happy to invite you to the “Avant-Premiere” of our new scientific movie on 10th of October.

This will be an incredible sensory experience and another good reason to visit Amsterdam!

An incredible sensory experience for the whole family

[Hormonal Fingerprint] The link between Hormones and Vocation revealed

DervalResearch will reveal the link between Hormones and Vocation as well as Vocation and Taste perception at the 13th Annual Meeting of the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology on June 26, 2009 at the Michigan State University.

This breakthrough has several applications in the business and medical field:
– Segmenting individuals into groups based on their perception,
– Designing the right sensory mix for each group,
– Adapting health prevention plans for each group,
– Identifying and reaching individuals more exposed to chronic food-related diseases.

DervalResearch just started a research program with the US National Institutes of Health. If you want to know more, you can contact Prof. Diana Derval at +31 61 824 0803 or diana.derval@derval-research.com.

You can download the full poster at http://www.derval-research.com : Hormonal Fingerprint DervalResearch Poster SBN2009

[Hormonal Fingerprint] Your Favorite Music Comes From Your Heart!

We are studying further the impact of hormones on our music preferences. It seems that, the more you are testosteron-driven, the more you embrace a variety of musics.

One point is sure from previous studies: our favorite rhythm in terms of music is the one that corresponds to our heartbeat.

I measured for me with a metronome and the result was definitively folk metal. You can try at home too.

Source: Iwanaga M, “Relationship between Heart Rate and Preference for Tempo of Music”, Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1995.

[Hormonal Fingerprint] Research shows that women and men react differently to colour and light

A recent research conducted in collaboration with NS, the Dutch Railways, showed that waiting time goes faster in a context with a dim light rather than a bright light. Interestingly, busy passengers also showed a preference for a blue light whereas roaming passengers praised warmer colors.

Last but not least, women and men reacted differently to color and light. We will definitively investigate further the influence of our hormonal fingerprint on our perception of time and color!

Source: “ The influence of colour and light on the experience and satisfaction with a Dutch railway station,” M van Hagen, M Galetzka, A Pruyn, European Transport Conference, October 2008.

[Hormonal Fingerprint] Why should a nurse have dinner with a rugbyman?

DervalResearch established a link between our perception of taste and our job and hobbies. Prof. Diana Derval, President and Research Director, reveals: “We know that nurses and rugbymen are more likely to be non-tasters – that means they host fewer taste buds on their tongue and can therefore eat or drink almost anything: bitter,spicy, very sweet food – whereas Entrepeneurs and ballerinas will be super-taster and therefore more picky with food”. 

Prof. Diana Derval, expert in cognitive marketing, adds “Our perception, skills and physical traits are greatly determined by our hormones while we are still a fetus. Based on this Hormonal Fingerprint, we can predict for instance the preferred food/beverages, colors and shapes of an individual, as well as his perfect matching job, hobby or even partner.”

This scientific research conducted between november 2008 and january 2009 on 500 people from over 25 countries offers endless opportunities in the field of new product development and commercialization. Vidya Sagar Gannamani, Category Leader, Beverage Appliances at Philips, shares: “We discovered and experienced with Prof. Diana Derval the Hormonal Fingerprint. This remarkable biological fact explains why our perception of taste is at the same time unique and predictable”

Learn more about the Hormonal Fingerprint in this 6mn video clip, produced in partnership with COPUS 2009 Year of Science (Coalition for the Public Understanding of Science) and NEMO Science Center.

[Hormonal Fingerprint] What kind of Taster are you?

 

Depending on our gender, ethnicity and age, the number of taste buds we will host on our tongue might vary between 11 to 1.100 per cm2!

Each bud helps perceive bitter, sweet, salt, sour and umami (corresponds to the glutamate taste present in meat, cheese and mushrooms).

 

 

Source: PTC/PROP Tasting: Anatomy, Psychophysics, and Sex Effects. Bartoshuk, L. M., Duffy, V. B., Miller, I. J., 1994, Physiology and Behavior, Vol. 56, pp. pp. 1165-1171.

[Hormonal Fingerprint] Are we our hormones?

Welcome to the Hormonal Fingerprint blog! We will use this space to share the latest scientific breakthroughs in behavioral neuroscience and explore how our Hormonal Fingerprint can reveal our personality traits and preferences.

So stay tuned,

Prof. Diana Derval

Researcher, Author and President of DervalResearch