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- Butyric acid was chosen in virtue of its hedonic ambiguity. Indeed, it has been reported to be perceived either as a pleasant odour (e.g., parmesan cheese) or an unpleasant odour (e.g., vomit; Herz, 2006; Herz & von Clef, 2001), while keeping the chemical properties constant. Mineral oil (Sigma-Aldrich, Italy) was used as diluting agent for cedarwood oil, while propylene glycol (Sigma-Aldrich, Italy) was used for butyric acid.
[Show abstract] [Hide abstract] ABSTRACT: Meta-analytic evidence showed that the chemical senses affect moral decisions. However, how odours impact on morality is currently unclear. Through a set of three studies, we assess whether and how odour intensity biases moral choices (Study 1a), its psychophysiological responses (Study 1b), as well as the behavioural and psychophysiological effects of odour valence on moral choices (Study 2). Study 1a suggests that the presence of an odour plays a role in shaping moral choice. Study 1b reveals that of two iso-pleasant versions of the same neutral odour, only the one presented sub-threshold (vs. supra-threshold) favours deontological moral choices, those based on the principle of not harming others even when such harm provides benefits. As expected, this odour intensity effect is tracked by skin conductance responses, whereas no difference in cardiac activity - proxy for the valence dimension - is revealed. Study 2 suggests that the same neutral odour presented sub-threshold increases deontological choices even when compared to iso-intense ambiguous odour, perceived as pleasant or unpleasant by half of the participants, respectively. Skin conductance responses, as expected, track odour pleasantness, but cardiac activity fails to do so. Results are discussed in the context of mechanisms alternative to disgust induction underlying moral choices.- This was in contrast to teenagers and young adults, who are characterized by higher levels of semantic odor representation. Among the physicochemical properties of odorants that can make an odor a priori unpleasant are those related to trigeminal stimulation (pungency; Herz, 2006), which triggers neurological protective reactions that help avert the organism from potentially harmful materials (for a review see Doty and Cometto-Muñiz, 2003). The aim of the present study was to explore the relationship between knowledge of an odor's identity (assessed by means of performance on a cued identification task) and pleasantness ratings in a cohort of prepubertal children, who have less experience with odors than adults and in whom the process of odor knowledge acquisition is evident from their increase in odor identification scores with age (Ferdenzi et al., 2008).
- This was in contrast to teenagers and young adults, who are characterized by higher levels of semantic odor representation. Among the physicochemical properties of odorants that can make an odor a priori unpleasant are those related to trigeminal stimulation (pungency; Herz, 2006), which triggers neurological protective reactions that help avert the organism from potentially harmful materials (for a review see Doty and Cometto-Muñiz, 2003). The aim of the present study was to explore the relationship between knowledge of an odor's identity (assessed by means of performance on a cued identification task) and pleasantness ratings in a cohort of prepubertal children, who have less experience with odors than adults and in whom the process of odor knowledge acquisition is evident from their increase in odor identification scores with age (Ferdenzi et al., 2008).
[Show abstract] [Hide abstract] ABSTRACT: Hedonic ratings of odors and olfactory preferences are influenced by a number of modulating factors, such as prior experience and knowledge about an odor’s identity. The present study addresses the relationship between knowledge about an odor’s identity due to prior experience, assessed by means of a test of cued odor identification, and odor pleasantness ratings in children who exhibit ongoing olfactory learning. Ninety-one children aged 8-11 years rated the pleasantness of odors in the Sniffin’ Sticks set and, subsequently, took the odor identification test. A positive association between odor identification and pleasantness was found for two unpleasant food odors (garlic and fish): higher pleasantness ratings were exhibited by those participants who correctly identified these odors compared to those who failed to correctly identify them. However, we did not find a similar effect for any of the more pleasant odors. The results of this study suggest that pleasantness ratings of some odors may be modulated by the knowledge of their identity due to prior experience and that this relationship might be more evident to unpleasant odors.- Indeed, extreme individual variability in scent perception is one of the hallmarks of the sense of smell (Gilbert 2008, Porteous 2006). Although some studies have been run on innate smell preferences (looking at the smell responses of infants, for example), smell is a sense for which the evidence of cultural and learned influences is very strong (Herz 2006, Porteous 2006). One constructive conclusion we can draw for the game designer is that the influence of culture and learning on smell—as well as the great variability of individual smell capabilities and preferences—favors game and play strategies related to customization, collection, and trading.
[Show abstract] [Hide abstract] ABSTRACT: Is gaming becoming funkier? Dancemat interfaces haven't just introduced thumping bass lines to gaming, they also make players sweat. Add the strain of new motion control interfaces such as the Wii, Kinect and Move, and the result is a more pungent smellscape for digital gaming. This has caused some players to rethink their seduction strategies: Seriously, Kinect might just be the first game machine that can make people stink at a party. I guess if you don't want to stink up the party, don't be the first to play Kinect. That girl or guy you are interested in my not like you much because of your Kinect smell. Perhaps it is better to wait till the party is almost over to play Kinect. (booniga 2010) This moment of social anxiety gives an inkling of the untapped power of smell in game design. Body odors do play a subtle yet powerful role in sexual attraction (Herz 2008). But when Kinect smell becomes an occasion for player speculation about attractiveness and hygiene, we would also do well to bear in mind what sensory anthropologists have long contended: that the sense of smell remains a contested site in which cultural norms are explored, negotiated, enforced and transgressed (Classen, Howes and Synnott 1994) (Fig. 1). New technologies engage persistent habits.- Apparently, signals from other senses have an indirect route to this part of the brain, thus resulting in a less powerful association. These physiological mechanisms aside, as we will soon illustrate strong nostalgic associations are also emergent in both socialization to olfactory sensations (Herz 2006) and active meaning-making processes as individuals place particular smells that embodied selfhood is performed into being. As we will also soon illustrate, these emergent acts of sense-making evoke important forms of somatic work that facilitate self continuity over time.
[Show abstract] [Hide abstract] ABSTRACT: This study examines olfactory perception and nostalgic memories focusing on sense acts and the sensuous self as a dialectic of ritual sensations and sense-making rituals. Our data are drawn from a convenience sample of twenty-three participants who reflected on their olfactory experiences through the use of research journals. Our analysis illustrates how olfactory perceptions and memories are necessarily produced by active “idealizing activity” that is emergent in sensuous rituals that help maintain self continuity over time. Our focus on olfaction - at the expense of a more multisensory approach focusing on, say, taste and olfaction - contributes to a very small body of sociological (but also a larger body of anthropological) literature on this important but much neglected medium of perception.- " Finally, olfaction order is also structured by somatic rules regarding assessments of moral/aesthetic character. As previously suggested , many odors are immediately evaluated as positive or negative, good or bad, and these evaluations are not neutral: what smells good is good, what smells bad is bad (Herz 2006; Synnott 1993). For example, Jackie (age 36) wrote, " It is important to control or manipulate odor on your body when you will be in social situations so that you are not judged based on poor body odor.
[Show abstract] [Hide abstract] ABSTRACT: Sensation (noun) is emergent in joint acts of sensing (verb). To sense, in other words, is to make sense, and sense making entails what we call “somatic work.” We investigate these dynamics in the context of olfaction, highlighting how olfaction intersects with social, cultural, and moral order—thus compelling reflexive forms of somatic work by which people manage smell (as an act) and odor (as a sign). Our data are drawn from a convenience sample of twenty-three participants who reflected on their olfactory experiences through the use of research journals. We focus on three central dynamics: participants'attribution of meaning to odors, the somatic rules that structure perception, and olfactory facework. The participants in this study attribute meaning to odor through odiferous indexes that intersect with an individual's somatic career; olfactory somatic rules entail disciplined somatic work in relation to the intensity of odor, its context, and moral/aesthetic character. Because odor conveys meaning, it is part of the ritualized facework of everyday life. Odor is a subtle but significant component of the culturally normative and aesthetic rituals of expressive and impressive everyday life.
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