The scent of the other women: Body odor-induced behavioral and physiological effects on face categorization

Mutic, Smiljana; Freiherr, Jessica; Cavazzana, Annachiara; Rocha, Marta; Soares, Sandra C.; Parma, Valentina

doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2019.112562

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…These results therefore suggest that those components of BO that are associated with anxiety induce a stress response in recipients, modulating both their arousal and cognitive-emotional skills but at the same time facilitating the processing of emotional facial stimuli (cf. Mutic et al, 2019 ). The presence of a fear odour facilitates the detection of fearful expressions over other negative expressions (Kamiloglu et al, 2018 ; cf.…”

Section: The Influence Of a Person’s Natural Body Odour On Multisensory Person Perceptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The scent of attraction and the smell of success: crossmodal influences on person perception

Spence

2021

Cogn. Research

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In recent decades, there has been an explosion of research into the crossmodal influence of olfactory cues on multisensory person perception. Numerous peer-reviewed studies have documented that a variety of olfactory stimuli, from ambient malodours through to fine fragrances, and even a range of chemosensory body odours can influence everything from a perceiver’s judgments of another person’s attractiveness, age, affect, health/disease status, and even elements of their personality. The crossmodal and multisensory contributions to such effects are reviewed and the limitations/peculiarities of the research that have been published to date are highlighted. At the same time, however, it is important to note that the presence of scent (and/or the absence of malodour) can also influence people’s (i.e., a perceiver’s) self-confidence which may, in turn, affect how attractive they appear to others. Several potential cognitive mechanisms have been put forward to try and explain such crossmodal/multisensory influences, and some of the neural substrates underpinning these effects have now been characterized. At the end of this narrative review, a number of the potential (and actual) applications for, and implications of, such crossmodal/multisensory phenomena involving olfaction are outlined briefly.

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Section: The Influence Of a Person’s Natural Body Odour On Multisensory Person Perceptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The scent of attraction and the smell of success: crossmodal influences on person perception

Spence

2021

Cogn. Research

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“…Furthermore, it has been showed that female body odour modulates male and female face emotion categorization in women 16 . While, Syrjänen et al 17 demonstrated that contextual background odours can modulate emotion and the N 170 cortical event‐related potential (ERP) responses of participants in faces pictures perception.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A preliminary study on the effect of gender‐matched odours on the evaluation of emotional, cognitive and aesthetic characteristics of faces

Risso

Maggioni

Gallace

2021

Flavour & Fragrance J

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Facial attractiveness plays an important role in everyday social interactions. In the present study, we investigated whether people's evaluation of attractiveness can be modulated by odours. In Experiment 1, twelve participants rated a series of odours on several perceptual and synaesthetic characteristics (gender, pleasantness, cheerfulness, intensity, arousal and association with food), along visual analogue scales. In Experiment 2, the participants judged the attractiveness of female and male faces, while smelling an odour that was rated in Experiment 1 as more feminine (caramel), masculine (licorice) or when odourless water was presented. The results showed that the participants evaluated female faces as more attractive when the caramel odour was concurrently presented. By contrast, the participants evaluated the male faces as more attractive when the licorice odour was presented. These results highlight the importance of the synaesthetic associations between “gender” and odours on people's judgements of facial attractiveness.

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“…For example, compared to a "no scent" condition, exposure to lavender scent can increase interpersonal trust, as measured by the amount of money one participant (the trustor) transfers to another participant (the trustee) during the "Trust Game" [38]. Body odors and fragrances worn by one another have also been found to modulate interpersonal behaviors and social communications [39][40][41]. Baron [39] showed that job applicants wearing a pleasant perfume or cologne received significantly different performance reviews compared to a no-scent control.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Olfactory Cues of Restaurant Wait Staff Modulate Patrons’ Dining Experiences and Behavior

Singh

Beekman

Seo

2019

Foods

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Ambient scents at retail stores have been found to modulate customer perceptions and attitudes toward retail products and stores. Although ambient scent effects have also been observed in restaurant settings, little is known about the scent-related influences of restaurant wait staff on patron perception and behavior. This study aimed to determine whether olfactory cues from restaurant wait staff can affect patrons’ dining experiences and interpersonal behavior with respect to menu choice, flavor perception, overall liking of meal items, meal satisfaction, consumption amount, and tip amount for wait staff. A total of 213 adults with no olfactory impairments were asked to select and consume one of four chicken meat menu items: baked, broiled, fried, and smoked chicken, in a mock restaurant setting, under one of the three most likely scents of wait staff: congruent (smoky barbecue scent), fragrance (perfume scent), and no scent (control) applied to fabric aprons of wait staff. The results showed that menu choice and flavor perception of chicken meat items did not differ in the presence of the three scent conditions. The effects of wait staff scents on overall liking of chicken meat items, meal satisfaction, and tip amount for wait staff were found to differ as a function of patron gender. Female patrons gave higher ratings of overall liking and meal satisfaction under the fragrance scent condition than under the no scent condition, while male patrons showed no effect with respect to overall liking and an opposite result in the meal satisfaction. Female patrons gave larger tips to wait staff under the congruent scent condition than under the no scent condition, while male patrons exhibited no effect. Patrons also were found to consume chicken meat items the least under the congruent scent condition. In conclusion, this study provides new empirical evidence that wait staff scents at restaurants can affect patrons’ dining experiences and interpersonal behavior and that the effects of such scents vary as a function of patron gender.

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The scent of the other women: Body odor-induced behavioral and physiological effects on face categorization

Cited by 5 publications

References 72 publications

The scent of attraction and the smell of success: crossmodal influences on person perception

The scent of attraction and the smell of success: crossmodal influences on person perception

A preliminary study on the effect of gender‐matched odours on the evaluation of emotional, cognitive and aesthetic characteristics of faces

Olfactory Cues of Restaurant Wait Staff Modulate Patrons’ Dining Experiences and Behavior

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