Odor Perception Largely Depends On Subject Description

By Samantha Goodwin | Feb 13, 2014 09:01 AM EST

How we judge the odor of something largely depends on the description associated with it, University of Montreal's Department of Psychology researchers find.

It wouldn't be wrong to say we smell with our eyes and ears rather than our nose! At least that's what the findings of a new study suggest. University of Montreal's Department of Psychology researchers note that humans have a tendency to judge the odor of something depending on the description associated with it. For example, if a substance comes with a positive description, we automatically tend to appreciate its odor.

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"It shows that odor perception is not objective: it is affected by the cognitive interpretation that occurs when one looks at a label," study author Simona Manescu, said in a press statement. "Moreover, this is the first time we have been able to influence the edibility perception of an odor, even though the positive and negative labels accompanying the odors showed non-food words."

For the study, 50 participants were asked to judge the odor of four odorants. Each odorant was accompanied by two description displayed on a computer screen. The description was either positive or negative. For example, pine oil was associated with "Pine Needles" and Old Solvent", geraniol was associated with "Fresh Flowers" or "Cheap Perfume"; cumin was associated with "Indian Food" or "Dirty Clothes; and finally, parmesan cheese was associated with cheese or dried vomit.

Researchers noted that all participants judged the odor as "pleasant" whenever they were associated with a positive description. They also found that odors affect the reaction times of individuals. Pleasant odors cause slow reactions but unpleasant odors cause rapid reactions. This discovery was made after participants were given a button to press every time they recognized an odor.

"We were surprised by this result because we expected reaction times to increase when all four odors were associated with positive labels," said the study authors. "Although descriptions appear to influence reaction time, this may be modulated by label fit and the edibility attributed to an odor or label."

Findings of the study were published in the journal Chemical Senses.