The Science of Scent

Does the same odor seem weaker during a difficult game? An experiment in which 30 people played Tetris at different difficulty levels explores attention, odor intensity, and a hypothesis about distracted eating.

Does adding a scent that matches a poem change how it is learned? An experiment with 87 fourth graders examines immediate and three-day memory, understanding of poetic scenes, and enjoyment of learning.

An experiment with 22 people briefly displayed fruit images to test whether scent–target congruency changes performance. Accuracy, response time, and individual differences tell different parts of the story.

Does information about liking or disliking an odor travel only one way, from the nose to the brain? A study of electrical activity in the olfactory bulb and piriform cortex examines rapid responses and the pleasantness-related information that subsequently returns.

In an experiment with 296 women, imagining smells brought personal memories to many participants. The study explores differences in pleasantness, memory age, and vividness.

Does scent affect whether we miss the second of two rapidly appearing numbers? Three experiments analyzing 112 people found no lavender–peppermint difference, while examining presentation methods and personal associations.

Identifying an odor and paying attention to everyday smells are not the same thing. A 12-week preliminary study of children aged 6–9 measured both. We examine the possible increase in awareness with scented training and what remains unconfirmed.

Fifty-two people learned a virtual maze using pictures or odors as landmarks and were tested immediately and one month later. The study examined memory for route decisions separately from recognition of the landmarks themselves.

When 56 adults were tested four times from morning to evening, their mean scores for detecting faint odors changed. We examine how this relates to nasal airflow and morning or evening chronotypes.