Responsiveness to olfactory stimuli presented in sleep

Hewitt

International Journal of Neuroscience

et al. 2008

149

118

This study provides further evidence for the impact of the aromas of plant essential oils on aspects of cognition and mood in healthy participants. One hundred and forty four volunteers were randomly assigned to conditions of Ylang-Ylang aroma, Peppermint aroma, or no aroma control. Cognitive performance was assessed using the Cognitive Drug Research computerised assessment battery, with mood scales completed before and after cognitive testing. The analysis of the data revealed significant differences between conditions on a number of the factors underpinning the tests that constitute the battery.Peppermint was found to enhance memory whereas Ylang-Ylang impaired it, and lengthened processing speed. In terms of subjective mood Peppermint increased alertness and Ylang-Ylang decreased it, but significantly increased calmness. These results provide support for the contention that the aromas of essential oils can produce significant and idiosyncratic effects on both subjective and objective assessments of aspects of human behaviour. They are discussed with reference to possible pharmacological and psychological modes of influence.2

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modulation of Cognitive Performance and Mood by Aromas of Peppermint and Ylang-Ylang

Hewitt

International Journal of Neuroscience

et al. 2008

149

118

“…A variety of studies have shown effects of odors on cognition (Richardson and Zucco, 1989;Long and Roberts, 1990), emotion (Ehrlichman, 1987;Van Toller, 1988;Ehrlichman and Bastone, 1992a;Miltner et al, 1994), attention (Warm et al, 1991), memory (Ehrlichman and Bastone, 1992a) and sleep (Badia et al, 1990). Further evidence that odors can affect electrocortical activity in the cortex is provided by the fact that olfactory evoked potentials can reliably be recorded from scalp sites (Kobal and Hummel, 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrocortical and Autonomic Alteration by Administration of a Pleasant and an Unpleasant Odor

Rüegg²,

et al. 1995

The present study was designed to investigate whether there is a consistent response in ongoing EEG due to repetitive olfactory stimulation. Two odors of different hedonic quality were presented bilaterally to five male subjects at suprathreshold levels. A room-air blank served as the control stimulus. Each odor was presented six times to each subject in each of three sessions. Electrocortical activity, heart rate, skin conductance and breathing cycle were recorded continuously. EEG variables assessed were difference scores of absolute power in the frequency bands theta, alphai, alpha2 and betai at eight locations. Phenylethyl alcohol was rated pleasant, while valeric acid was judged unpleasant. Within 8 s after stimulus release, valeric acid increased alpha2 power, whereas phenylethyl alcohol did not. No further frequency bands were affected by olfactory stimulation. These findings suggest that smelling an unpleasant odor leads to a cortical deactivation. Chem. Senses 20: 505-515, 1995.

International Journal of Social Science Studies

“…The authors concluded that the administration of sandalwood oil via transdermal absorption and in specific experimental conditions provoked physiological deactivation and behavioral activation , while administration via inhalation and in different experimental circumstances elevated pulse rate, skin conductance level, and systolic blood pressure (Heuberger et al, 2006). As for peppermint, evidence for its stimulating properties includes an observation that peppermint aroma caused an increase in electroencephalography (EEG) speed and heart rate during sleep (Badia et al, 1990), an increase in CNV magnitude (Manley, 1993;Torii et al, 1998), a decrease in theta activity (Klemm et al, 1992), and enhanced EEG and behavioral arousal during stage 1 sleep (Carskadon & Herz, 2004). However, arguments against the stimulating properties of peppermint include the finding that peppermint aroma produced a significant decrease in gross speed, net speed, and accuracy in a typing task (Barker et al, 2003); more NREM sleep, less REM sleep, and more slow-wave sleep (Goel & Lao, 2006); and increased alertness, decreased temporal demand, and decreased frustration during simulated driving (Raudenbush et al, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Versatile Psychophysiological Potencies of Essential Oils, when Seen as a Function of Behavioral Task Assigned to the Participants after Inhalation

Sugawara¹,

Shigetho²,

Yoneda³

et al. 2015

To elucidate the psychophysiological effect of inhaling essential oils, in this paper, we sought to assess the following 12 essential oils: basil, bergamot, cardamom, cinnamon, juniper, lemon, orange, palmarosa, peppermint, sandalwood, spearmint, and ylang ylang. As these being target odors, we focused on the verbal (semantic) and non-verbal (skin temperature) endpoints of the stimuli. In our experimental design, we managed to assign different behavioral tasks to the participants. The Uchida-Kraepelin test was used as a mental arithmetic task and listening to environmental (natural) sounds as an auditory task. In the verbal study, for an example, we conducted the sensory test twice, once before and once after the task. As a measure of the perceived odor quality in participants after inhalation of a given aroma, we employed a sensory evaluation spectrum. It is a bar graph in which the mean of the difference in score between pre-and post-task inquiry (post minus pre) was plotted against the impression descriptors. Taking into account of the obtained skin temperature changes between pre-and post-task inhalations, the subtle nuances between verbal and non-verbal expressions seen as a function of the two behavioral tasks assigned to the participant suggested that essential oils may have versatile psychophysiological potencies by the nature.