Smelly primes – when olfactory primes do or do not work

Abstract

In applied olfactory cognition the effects that olfactory stimulation can have on (human) behavior are investigated. To enable an efficient application of olfactory stimuli a model of how they may lead to a change in behavior is proposed. To this end we use the concept of olfactory priming. Olfactory priming may prompt a special view on priming as the olfactory sense has some unique properties which make odors special types of primes. Examples of such properties are the ability of odors to influence our behavior outside of awareness, to lead to strong affective evaluations, to evoke specific memories, and to associate easily and quickly to other environmental stimuli. Opportunities and limitations for using odors as primes are related to these properties, and alternative explanations for reported findings are offered. Implications for olfactory semantic, construal, behavior and goal priming are given based on a brief overview of the priming literature from social psychology and from olfactory perception science. We end by formulating recommendations and ideas for a future research agenda and applications for olfactory priming.

Rapidly acquired multisensory association in the olfactory cortex

“…2008; Zelano et al. 2009; Smeets and Dijksterhuis 2014). Olfactory sensory memory reflects activity, in part, within the primary olfactory cortex (POC), which like most sensory cortices (Ghazanfar and Schroeder 2006) receives direct and/or indirect convergent multisensory inputs (Gottfried et al.…”

The SALIENT Checklist: Gathering up the Ways in Which Built Environments Affect What We Do and How We Feel

“…In their study of air ventilation, Preziosi et al [26] found exposure to HVAC systems to be strongly linked to sick absences from work, as well as greater use of health care services. As with the citrus and hand washing example mentioned above, a number of different scents have been found to affect our unconscious behaviour [27]. For example, in an experiment that involved eating a biscuit, some participants were exposed to the scent of an all-purpose cleaner.…”

Leading the consumer by the nose: on the commercialization of olfactory design for the food and beverage sector

“…Relevant here, on being quizzed after the experiment, none of the participants who had taken part in Gaillet et al's [32] study remembered a scent actually having been present in the environment in the earlier part of the study. Indeed, in the laboratory setting it has been shown/suggested that scent can have more impact on our perception/behaviour when we are not aware of its presence [11,74]. 4 It is worth noting here that Japanese companies have been rumoured to release the scent of food into their office buildings at different times of a day on different floors in order to more effectively manage the flow of workers into their staff canteens [75,76].…”

“…Olfactory cues are also dominant when it comes to judging the palatability of food (i.e. just imagine what you would do if you saw a beautifully prepared fish that just smelled off-would you eat it [10][11][12]?). What is not so widely known, though, at least not amongst the general public is that food-related olfactory cues also elicit a whole host of physiological responses: everything from increased salivation (e.g.…”