How do odors work

When people were exposed to an odor they liked creative problem solving was better than it was when they were exposed to an unpleasant odor condition. Taking this one step further is the way in which mood influences on thinking are translated into observable behavior.

A growing body of literature shows that positive mood is linked to an increase in productivity, performance and the tendency to help others, while negative mood reduces prosocial behavior. Notably, prosocial behavior and productivity are also enhanced in the presence of pleasant ambient odors. For example, people exposed to the smells of baking cookies or roasting coffee were more inclined to help a stranger than people not exposed to an odor manipulation. People who worked in the presence of a pleasant smelling air freshener also reported higher self-efficacy, set higher goals and were more likely to employ efficient work strategies than participants who worked in a no-odor condition.

Pleasant ambient odors have also been found to enhance vigilance during a tedious task and improve performance on anagram and word completion tests. Conversely, the presence of a malodor reduced participants subjective judgments and lowered their tolerance for frustration.

Participants in these studies also reported concordant mood changes. Thus, the observed behavioral responses are due to the effect that the ambient odors has on peoples mood.

So there you have it, odors influence mood, work performance, and many other forms of behavior via their learned associations and particularly their learned emotional associations. The next time you smell a scent that you like, see if you can figure out where you first experienced it and then also reflect to yourself whether you feel any mood change and if that mood makes you want to do anything in particular.

Sign up for our email newsletter. Already a subscriber? Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. See Subscription Options. Go Paperless with Digital. Rachel S. Herz, an assistant professor of psychology at Brown University, provides the following explanation: The simple answer is yes, but the reasons may not be what you expect.

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How Do We See? How Do We Sense Smell? How Do We Sense Touch? What is Evolutionary Medicine? What's a Biologist? What's a GMO? What's a Genome? Written by: Pierce Hutton and Megan Turnidge. The Science of Smelling As you flip to the next chapter of an old book, you smell a unique mustiness. View Citation You may need to edit author's name to meet the style formats, which are in most cases "Last name, First name.

Modern Language Association, 7th Ed. How do we use our noses to sense smell? Learn more about our five senses. Read this story in:. Share this page:. How does the sense of smell work?

Human Senses Image Gallery An odor molecule binds to cilia in the back of your nose, which causes you to perceive a smell. See more human senses pictures. Humans can distinguish more than 10, different smells odorants , which are detected by specialized olfactory receptor neurons lining the nose It is thought that there are hundreds of different olfactory receptors, each encoded by a different gene and each recognizing different odorants.

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