A hedonically complex odor mixture produces an attentional capture effect in the brain

Grabenhorst, Fabian; Rolls, Edmund T.; Margot, Christian

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.12.023

Cited by 43 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…We speculate that it could be mediated by perirhinal cortex, which lies close to primary olfactory regions on the ventral-medial aspect of the temporal lobes. Perirhinal cortex is a polymodal structure interconnected with a broad range of subcortical and cortical areas including frontal structures which have recently been implicated in automatic olfactory attention [31] as well as the inferior temporal cortex [32]. It supports representations of feature conjunctions [33], binds the various sensory attributes of an object into a reified representation [34] and is critically involved in processing meaningful aspects of multimodal object representations [35].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Olfaction spontaneously highlights visual saliency map

et al. 2013

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Attention is intrinsic to our perceptual representations of sensory inputs. Best characterized in the visual domain, it is typically depicted as a spotlight moving over a saliency map that topographically encodes strengths of visual features and feedback modulations over the visual scene. By introducing smells to two well-established attentional paradigms, the dot-probe and the visual-search paradigms, we find that a smell reflexively directs attention to the congruent visual image and facilitates visual search of that image without the mediation of visual imagery. Furthermore, such effect is independent of, and can override, top-down bias. We thus propose that smell quality acts as an object feature whose presence enhances the perceptual saliency of that object, thereby guiding the spotlight of visual attention. Our discoveries provide robust empirical evidence for a multimodal saliency map that weighs not only visual but also olfactory inputs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Olfaction spontaneously highlights visual saliency map

et al. 2013

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“…This response may reflect the perceptual synergy or pleasantness enhancement of the pleasant odor sometimes observed when mixed with an unpleasant one. Such perceptual outcome could be due to an attention-capturing effect of hedonically complex mixtures that operate unconsciously and involve the superior frontal gyrus (Grabenhorst et al, 2011). …”

Section: Interactions At Higher Levels: Processing Odor Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The perception of odor objects in everyday life: a review on the processing of odor mixtures

et al. 2014

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Smelling monomolecular odors hardly ever occurs in everyday life, and the daily functioning of the sense of smell relies primarily on the processing of complex mixtures of volatiles that are present in the environment (e.g., emanating from food or conspecifics). Such processing allows for the instantaneous recognition and categorization of smells and also for the discrimination of odors among others to extract relevant information and to adapt efficiently in different contexts. The neurophysiological mechanisms underpinning this highly efficient analysis of complex mixtures of odorants is beginning to be unraveled and support the idea that olfaction, as vision and audition, relies on odor-objects encoding. This configural processing of odor mixtures, which is empirically subject to important applications in our societies (e.g., the art of perfumers, flavorists, and wine makers), has been scientifically studied only during the last decades. This processing depends on many individual factors, among which are the developmental stage, lifestyle, physiological and mood state, and cognitive skills; this processing also presents striking similarities between species. The present review gathers the recent findings, as observed in animals, healthy subjects, and/or individuals with affective disorders, supporting the perception of complex odor stimuli as odor objects. It also discusses peripheral to central processing, and cognitive and behavioral significance. Finally, this review highlights that the study of odor mixtures is an original window allowing for the investigation of daily olfaction and emphasizes the need for knowledge about the underlying biological processes, which appear to be crucial for our representation and adaptation to the chemical environment.

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“…There are now techniques that have been developed to investigate brain activity. Scent emotional and behaviour effects are being assessed by methods like electroencephalogram (EEG), contingent negative variation (CNV), near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and, while being more complex and more expensive than others, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) [7,8,[18][19][20][21][22].…”

Section: Mechanisms and General Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physiological effect of olfactory stimuli inhalation in humans: an overview

Angelucci

Silva

Pizzol

et al. 2014

Intern J of Cosmetic Sci

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SynopsisThe importance of odorants in human life has long been recognized. Literature contains different approaches of physiological and psychological effects of odorant compounds, fragrances and essential oils. This work discusses odorants inhalation effect, based on an overview of major studies in humans. Beneficial effect of fragrances is mainly related to human behaviour. Studies document odorants influence in sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, and neurophysiological brain activity. Moreover, odours compounds can act on the neuroendocrine system, neurotransmitters and neuromodulators, influencing psychological behaviour as well as body function. Odorant inhalation modulates physiological pathways, and in some cases, results in skin function regulation. The mechanism is incompletely elucidated. These findings suggest that olfactory system plays a role in central nervous system function beyond that of smell. In this overview, it was observed that odour compounds influenced stress biomarkers, dehydroepiandrosterone, oxidative stress, estradiol, dopamine, cutaneous barrier, sebum secretion and cutaneous immune system in humans. Some can be related with skin function. As the skin is associated with an extensive biochemical cascade and has complex mechanisms, studies have far to go, as there are processes not yet investigated related to skin that may be affected through olfaction. Future researches are needed to further understand and describe the mechanisms of action of physiological effects in fragrance compounds.R esum e L'importance des substances odorantes dans la vie humaine est reconnue depuis longtemps. La litt erature contient des approches diverses des effets physiologiques et psychologiques des compos es odorants, des parfums et des huiles essentielles. Ce travail aborde les effets des odorants par inhalation, il est bas e sur une vue d'ensemble des principales etudes chez l'homme. L'effet b en efique des parfums est principalement li e au comportement humain. Les etudes documentent que les odorants influencent les syst emes nerveux sympathique et parasympathique, et l'activit e neurophysiologique du cerveau. En outre, les compos es de mauvaises odeurs peuvent agir sur le syst eme neuroendocrinien, les neurotransmetteurs et neuromodulateurs, influencer le comportement psychologique ainsi que la fonction du corps. L'inhalation odorante module les voies physiologiques, et dans certains cas, peut entraîner la r egulation de la fonction de la peau. Le m ecanisme n'est pas compl etement elucid e. Ces r esultats sugg erent que le syst eme olfactif joue un rôle dans le fonctionnement du syst eme nerveux central au-del a de l'odorat. Dans cet aperc ßu, il a et e observ e que les compos es odorants influencent les biomarqueurs du stress, le d ehydro epiandrost erone, le stress oxydatif, l'estradiol, la dopamine, la barri ere cutan ee, la s ecr etion de s ebum et le syst eme immunitaire cutan e chez l'homme. Certains peuventêtre li es a la fonction de la peau. Comme la peau est associ ee a une large...

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A hedonically complex odor mixture produces an attentional capture effect in the brain

Cited by 43 publications

References 65 publications

Olfaction spontaneously highlights visual saliency map

Olfaction spontaneously highlights visual saliency map

The perception of odor objects in everyday life: a review on the processing of odor mixtures

Physiological effect of olfactory stimuli inhalation in humans: an overview

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