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The emotional influence of flowers on social perception and memory: An exploratory study
... That is due to the challenges around methodologies for measuring consumer perceptions, thoughts and emotions as responses to food-related stimuli (K€ oster, 2009;K€ oster & Mojet, 2018). A possible approach that has been suggested to remedy some of these issues is the use of methodologies that promote the ability of the participants to provide information without being asked predetermined questions (Altintzoglou, Sone, Voldnes, Nøstvold, & Sogn-Grundvåg, 2018;Mojet et al., 2016;Spinelli et al., 2017). Examples of such methodologies are the Emotive Projection Test (EPT) and Open-Ended Questions (OEQs). ...
... The pictures were shown to participants in random order and they were first asked to reply in three open fields for each of the pictures (Altintzoglou et al., 2018). After that, they were asked to evaluate four moods of the pictured people in an emotive projection task: (a) open, (b) suspicious, (c) cheerful and (d) stressed, on a seven-point scale from 1 ¼ very little to 7 ¼ very much (Mojet et al., 2016;Vermeer, Mojet, van Veggel, & K€ oster, 2009). The next part of the survey was dedicated to an OEQ that requested the participants to imagine that they were at a shop/supermarket to buy Food product processed as usual Innovative Processing Technology (IPT) Food product processed using innovative processing technologies IPT þ benefit Convenience Food product processed using innovative processing technologies for increasing convenience in your daily life Health ...
... These results may show a lack of difference between conditions, on an emotional level, or a weakness of the method for this particular type of stimulus. The EPT method has been previously used to evaluate food products, while in this study it was employed to reveal emotional differences in the consumer reactions to information about innovative food processing technologies (Mojet et al., 2016). Even though OEQs have proven to be a good approach for collecting consumer data regarding reactions to new information (Altintzoglou et al., 2021), the high level of abstraction in this study may have made it difficult for consumers to emotionally relate to one or other approach and benefit. ...
The objective of this study was to reveal the efficiency of Open-Ended Emotive Projection Tests (OEEPTs) and Open-Ended Questions (OEQs) in understanding consumers’ reactions to products processed with innovative food processing technologies (IPTs) and the influence of such communication on consumer attitudes, perception of appropriateness and willingness to perform different behaviors. A representative sample of 1206 Norwegian participants were organized in six experimental groups and responded to OEEPTs, an Emotive Projection Test (EPT), OEQs and survey questions. OEEPTs and EPTs showed no significant differences in consumers’ responses between experimental conditions. OEQs indicated that the information on food processed as usual was preferred, while responses to food processed using IPT were not influenced by information about its benefits. This result was confirmed by willingness to try, buy and eat the same products. The main managerial implication is that communicating about benefits should be prioritized over information about IPTs.
... Flowers have been used in art therapy to assist sexually abused children express feelings and thoughts, process the traumatic experience and reduce anxiety [16]. Flowers had a positive effect on peoples' mood and their perception of others [17]. With flowers present in the room, pictures of other people were judged more positively than without flowers, and participants were better able to remember the room. ...
... As stated, this is also connected to cultural associations. Thus, our findings strengthen the literature on the positive impact of flowers [15,17,23], but also help to deepen our understanding of what in a flower makes people happy, and also, what types of positive emotions flowers initiate in people. In order to reach this overall conclusion, our methods utilized additional comparative elements between different types and settings of flowers, such as comparing flowers and nature and flowers and drawn flowers. ...
People have an ancient and strong bond to flowers, which are known to have a positive effect on the mood. During the COVID-19 pandemic, sales of ornamental plants increased, and many turned to gardening, possibly as a way to cope with ubiquitous increases in negative mood following lockdowns and social isolation. The nature of the special bond between humans and flowers requires additional elucidation. To this means, we conducted a comprehensive online mixed methods study, surveying 253 individuals (ages 18–83) from diverse ethnic backgrounds and continents, regarding their thoughts and feelings towards photos of flowers, nature scenes and flower drawings. We found that looking at pictures and drawings of flowers, as well as nature scenes induced positive emotions, and participants reported a variety of positive responses to the images. More specifically, we found associations of flowers with femininity, and connotations to particular flowers that were affected by geographical location. While nature scene photos induced positive reactions, flower photos were preferred, denying a mere substitution of nature by flowers and vice versa. Drawings of flowers elicited less positive emotions than photos, as people related more to the art than to the flower itself. Our study reveals the importance of ornamental flowers and nature in our life and well-being, and as such their cultivation and promotion are essential.
... Strong context effects were found where priming in the form of acclimatization resulted in a context effect for flavor perception (Velasco et al. 2013) and emotions (Mojet et al. 2016). Particularly for whiskey, authors instructed the participants to acclimatize themselves to the environmental context (stimuli including visual, audio, and olfactory factors), followed by rating the sensory attribute intensity and liking of both the atmosphere and the whiskey. ...
... Immersion permits control of specific contextual variables, is elaborate enough to measure potential interactions between the context variables, and is a suitable model for natural consumption events. Future studies might allow sufficient time for consumers to absorb the surrounding testing environment to enhance the context effect on emotions (Mojet et al. 2016). Earlier research on the effects of context on food and beverage liking generated differing responses, possibly because unless consumers are made patently aware of their surroundings, the context will not influence these perceptions. ...
Food studies have shown that emotional responses can be influenced by food alone and by its environmental context. The influence of context on perception and liking of red wine flavors and on the emotions evoked is poorly understood. The primary aim of this research was to examine the effect of wine flavors and context by immersive environment on consumer-perceived intensities of green and floral flavors, liking, and emotions elicited during wine consumption. Red wine consumers (n = 105) tasted three Cabernet Sauvignon wines: an unaltered control wine (CW), green wine (GW; control wine spiked with 3-isobutyl-2-methoxypyrazine), and floral wine (FW; control wine spiked with rose water), in both a "floral" room (FR) and a "green" room (GR). The wine consumers were asked to taste and rate the intensity of green and floral flavors, hedonic liking, and the emotions elicited. The results showed that in both rooms, FW was rated consistently higher in floral flavor and GW was rated higher in green flavor. CW and FW were significantly (p < 0.001) more liked than the GW. Based on wine liking, three clusters were identified. CW and FW evoked significantly higher positive emotions than GW (p < 0.05), while GW evoked significantly higher negative emotions than CW and FW (p < 0.05) in both rooms. The effect of immersive environment did not influence flavor perception, hedonic liking, or emotional responses. Consumers were also separated into three clusters according to their liking of wines tasted, and despite clusters having identical liking for certain wines, the associated emotions differed.
Purpose – This study aims to investigate the emotion hope for social status and attitude toward counterfeit goods as predictors of consumers’ intention to purchase counterfeit products.. Design/methodology/approach – We conduct an experiment with 45 undergraduates (51% female) from different universities, which design was a 2 (hope for social status; hopeful vs non-hope) x 2 (attitude towards counterfeit goods; positive vs negative) full factorial, between-subjects. Findings – Results confirmed that people felt hopeful after manipulation; however, future steps of this investigation should consider the use of another instrument of manipulation even more effective. However, respondents also pointed out they felt happiness, which makes us believe that it is important to use an instrument of manipulation even more effectively to guarantee the achievement of the real manipulation, without the interference from extraneous variables. Theoretical/methodological contributions – Although originated in categories such as apparel and luxury accessories, counterfeiting now affects a wide range of industries, representing a major economic threat. This great amount of counterfeit trade worldwide is shocking, and leads us to argue: what are the factors that influence the intention to purchase these products, especially regarding the consumption of luxury counterfeit brands? We believe that emotion may represent an important role in people’s intention to purchase counterfeit goods. Besides, the attitude towards counterfeit goods may also imply variations of intention to purchase, playing a moderator role. The inclusion of emotion in consumer behavior studies presents a significant opportunity to develop theory and practice in this area of study. Originality/value – The explanations of whether emotions may represent antecedents of the purchasing of counterfeits are quite limited, and the understanding of the motivations behind the purchase of such products remains undefined in the marketing literature. Analysis of the study shows that hope and attitude can simultaneously offer opportunities for consumer behavior research.
Associations between biodiversity, human health and well-being have never been discussed with reference to agriculturally managed, species-rich mountainous meadows. We evaluated these associations between extensively managed (one mowing a year, no fertilization) and abandoned (no mowing since more than 80 years, no fertilization) semi-dry meadows located in the Austrian and Swiss Alps. We quantified the richness and abundance of plants, grasshoppers, true bugs, bumblebees, syrphids and landscape characteristics in the surroundings of the meadows. Associations between these biodiversity attributes and short-term psychological and physiological human health effects were assessed with 22 participants (10 males, 12 females; mean age 27 years). Participants´ pulse rate, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were not affected during visits to managed or abandoned meadows. However, perceived health benefits (e.g., stress reduction, attention restoration) were higher during their stays in managed than in abandoned meadows. Also, the attractiveness of the surrounding landscape and the recreation suitability were rated higher when visiting managed meadows. Perceived naturalness was positively correlated with plant richness and flower cover. A positive correlation was found between SBP and forest cover, but SBP was negatively correlated with the open landscape. A negative association was found between grasshoppers and recreational and landscape perceptions. We suggest to discuss biodiversity attributes not only in connection with agricultural management but also with cultural ecosystem services and health benefits to raise more awareness for multifaceted interrelationships between ecosystems and humans.
The complexity of consumer perception of food products is still underestimated. Simply determining a product's averaged pleasantness in a single test may not be the best way to predict the product's future in the market. Not only is there a multitude of aspects and their mutual interactions that come into play, but the relationship between the consumer and the product also changes over repeated exposure, and these changes often determine the duration of the product's life cycle in the market. Predicting these changes over repeated exposure is probably more important than the momentary appreciation of the product on which most market research is based nowadays. The role of "collative properties," like perceived complexity, in the development of liking over exposure is discussed, and methods for predicting these changes and for the introduction of the product into the market are described. The effects of these methods on the possibility of producing more durable products are indicated.
... of workplaces than do comparable groups with views of built environments, and ... by emphasizing the inclusion of characteristics and opportunities in the environment that re ... the following general guidelines are proposed for creating supportive healthcare environments: • Foster ...
Our senses have developed as an answer to the world we live in (Gibson, 1966) and so have the forms of memory that accompany them. All senses serve different purposes and do so in different ways. In vision, where orientation and object recognition are important, memory is strongly linked to identification. In olfaction, the guardian of vital functions such as breathing and food ingestion, perhaps the most important (and least noticed and researched) role of odor memory is to help us not to notice the well-known odors or flavors in our everyday surroundings, but to react immediately to the unexpected ones. At the same time it provides us with a feeling of safety when our expectancies are met. All this happens without any smelling intention or conscious knowledge of our expectations. Identification by odor naming is not involved in this and people are notoriously bad at it. Odors are usually best identified via the episodic memory of the situation in which they once occurred. Spontaneous conscious odor perception normally only occurs in situations where attention is demanded, either because the inhaled air or the food smell is particularly good or particularly bad and people search for its source or because people want to actively enjoy the healthiness and pleasantness of their surroundings or food. Odor memory is concerned with novelty detection rather than with recollection of odors. In this paper, these points are illustrated with experimental results and their consequences for doing ecologically valid odor memory research are drawn. Furthermore, suggestions for ecologically valid research on everyday odor memory and some illustrative examples are given.
Background
Aromas have been associated with physiological, psychological affective and behavioral effects. We tested whether effects of low-level exposure to two ambient food-related aromas (citrus and vanilla) could be measured with small numbers of subjects, low-cost physiological sensors and semi-real life settings. Tests included physiological (heart rate, physical activity and response times), psychological (emotions and mood) and behavioral (food choice) measures in a semi-real life environment for 22 participants.
Results
Exposure to ambient citrus aroma increased physical activity (P <0.05), shortened response times in young participants (P <0.05), decreased negative emotions (P <0.05), and affected food choice (P <0.05). Exposure to ambient vanilla aroma increased projected introvert emotions (P <0.05). All effects were small relative to estimated effect sizes.
Conclusions
The test battery used in this study demonstrated aroma-specific physiological, psychological and behavioral effects of aromas with similar appeal and intensities, and similar food-related origins. These effects could be measured in (semi-) real life environments for freely moving subjects using relatively inexpensive commercially available physiological sensors.
Odors are powerful in bringing back old and vivid memories bearing emotional content. This inherent hedonic property of olfactory stimuli makes this sensory modality particularly suitable for studying autobiographical memory. In the present work, adolescents (first experiment), young adults (second experiment), and elderly (third experiment) of both sexes were asked to smell 10 familiar odorants and to report if these odorants evoked personal autobiographical memories or referential memories (i.e., names and objects). The participants were then required to link these memories to triplets of words using the progressive elaboration method of the Loci mnemonic. The aim of the study was to investigate whether 1) odorants evoking autobiographical memories led to faster reaction times (RTs) and to a greater number of correct responses in the recall of the
items associated to such memories than do odorants evoking referential memories, 2) females differed from males on the above tasks along with the life span, and 3) the preferential codes (i.e., autobiographical or referential) attributed to the odorants vary according to gender and age. In general, it was observed that the way in which the odorants were encoded affected the subsequent retrieval. Indeed, data analyses have shown that odorants evoking autobiographical memories lead to faster RTs (experiments 2 and 3) and that females outperform males (experiments 1 and 2). However, these effects are greatly age and gender dependent. Furthermore, females are more prone than males to code the odorants autobiographically (as shown by the higher amount of autobiographical experiences that they have provided at all ages relative to males). Results are discussed in terms of developmental differences and odor-emotion links and the possible role of odors and autobiographical memory in learning and retrieval of other items.
For millennia flowers have been used to convey romance, yet their effect on human romantic behavior has not been explicitly tested. In two experiments we show that women's perception of male attractiveness and their potential mating behavior are positively affected by simple exposure to flowers. In Study 1 women who were exposed to flowers while they watched a video of a man perceived the man to be more attractive and sexier. They also reported being more inclined to accept a date from him. In Study 2 women who were exposed to flowers responded more favorably to an explicit solicitation from a male confederate in a subsequent interaction. The results show that the simple exposure to flowers had a significant effect on women's perception of mating attractiveness and behavior.
For more than 5000 years, people have cultivated flowers although there is no known reward for this costly behavior. In three different studies we show that flowers are a powerful positive emotion "inducer". In Study 1, flowers, upon presentation to women, always elicited the Duchenne or true smile. Women who received flowers reported more positive moods 3 days later. In Study 2, a flower given to men or women in an elevator elicited more positive social behavior than other stimuli. In Study 3, flowers presented to elderly participants (55+ age) elicited positive mood reports and improved episodic memory. Flowers have immediate and long-term effects on emotional reactions, mood, social behaviors and even memory for both males and females. There is little existing theory in any discipline that explains these findings. We suggest that cultivated flowers are rewarding because they have evolved to rapidly induce positive emotion in humans, just as other plants have evolved to induce varying behavioral responses in a wide variety of species leading to the dispersal or propagation of the plants.
The autobiographical memory bump is an increase in the frequency of reported autobiographical memories (AMs) from a particular age range, and has been reported by numerous investigators (for reviews, see Conway, M. A. & Rubin, D. C. (1993). The structure of autobiographical memory. In A. F. Collins, S. E. Gathercole, M. A. Conway & P. E. Morris, Theories of memory. Hove: Lawrence Erlbaum; Rubin, D. C., Rahhal, T. A. & Poon, L. W. (1998). Things learned in early adulthood are remembered best. Memory and Cognition, 26, 3-19) to occur in the second and third decades of life. Invariably, word labels have been used as AM cues but, given that a popular interpretation of the anecdotal 'Proust phenomenon' is that odours evoke AMs which are especially aged, we wondered if a different pattern in the AM bump might emerge if AMs were cued by odours rather than labels. Here we report an attempt to substantiate this aspect of the 'Proust phenomenon' by comparing the distributions of memories across the lifespan when cued by odour and label. Data showed that, in line with previous studies, the bump for label cues was found to peak between ages 11 and 25 years and was confirmed to be quadratic in form. In contrast, the odour-cued memory distribution peaked at 6-10 years and decreased linearly thereafter. In the earliest age interval, 6-10 years, the proportion of AMs retrieved in response to odour cues was significantly greater than that for the label cues. These results provide empirical support for the Proust phenomenon, and have more general implications for the structure and age distribution of stored AMs. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
No two roses smell exactly alike, but our brain accurately bundles these variations into a single percept 'rose'. We found that ensembles of rat olfactory bulb neurons decorrelate complex mixtures that vary by as little as a single missing component, whereas olfactory (piriform) cortical neural ensembles perform pattern completion in response to an absent component, essentially filling in the missing information and allowing perceptual stability. This piriform cortical ensemble activity predicts olfactory perception.
How does mood affect the way we learn about, judge, and remember characteristics of other people? This study looked at the effects of mood on impression formation and person memory. Realistic person descriptions containing positive and negative details were presented to subjects experiencing a manipulated happy or sad mood. Next, impression-formation judgments were obtained, and subjects' recall and recognition of details of the characters were assessed. Results showed that subjects spent longer learning about mood-consistent details but were faster in making mood-consistent judgments. Overall, happy subjects formed more favorable impressions and made more positive judgments than did sad subjects. Both cued recall and recognition memory were superior for mood-consistent characteristics. Positive mood had a more pronounced effect on judgments and memory than did negative mood. These findings are discussed in terms of recent theories of mood effects on cognition, and the likely implications of the results for everyday person-perception judgments are considered.
A modified paired-associate learning paradigm was used to test whether odors or verbal odor labels evoked more emotional memories. Subjects were presented with emotionally positive and negative paintings (to-be-remembered items) in association with positive and negative odors and odor labels. Painting recall and associated emotional experience were tested after 48 h. Odor-evoked memories were found to be more emotional than verbally cued memories on a variety of measures. Moreover, if the cue for recall (odor or label) was hedonically congruent with the painting to be remembered, memory for original emotional experiences was enhanced. The findings are discussed within a general cognitive framework and implications for using odors to dissociate the emotional and representational aspects of memory are addressed.
The Proust phenomenon is an enduring piece of folk wisdom that asserts that odors are particularly powerful autobiographical memory cues. We provide a more formal exposition of this phenomenon and test it in two experiments, using a novel double-cuing methodology designed to negate less interesting explanations. In both studies, recall of an autobiographical event was initially cued by a verbal label (an odor name) for a fixed period, following which a second, extended recall attempt was cued by the same verbal label, the relevant odor, an irrelevant odor, or a visual cue. The focus of Experiment 1 was participants' ratings of the emotional quality of their autobiographical memories. In Experiment 2, content analysis was employed to determine the quantity of information in participants' recollections. Results revealed that odor-cued autobiographical memories were reliably different in terms of qualitative ratings and reliably superior in the amount of detail yielded. Moreover, visual cues and incongruent olfactory cues appeared to have a detrimental effect on the amount of detail recalled. These results support the proposal that odors are especially effective as reminders of past experience.
The authors explored three properties of basic, unconsciously triggered affective reactions: They can influence consequential behavior, they work without eliciting conscious feelings, and they interact with motivation. The authors investigated these properties by testing the influence of subliminally presented happy versus angry faces on pouring and consumption of beverage (Study 1), perception of beverage value (Study 2), and reports of conscious feelings (both studies). Consistent with incentive motivation theory, the impact of affective primes on beverage value and consumption was strongest for thirsty participants. Subliminal smiles caused thirsty participants to pour and consume more beverage (Study 1) and increased their willingness to pay and their wanting more beverage (Study 2). Subliminal frowns had the opposite effect. No feeling changes were observed, even in thirsty participants. The results suggest that basic affective reactions can be unconscious and interact with incentive motivation to influence assessment of value and behavior toward valenced objects.
This study addressed age distributions and experiential qualities of autobiographical memories evoked by different sensory cues. Ninety-three older adults were presented with one of three cue types (word, picture, or odor) and were asked to relate any autobiographical event for the given cue. The main aims were to explore whether (1) the age distribution of olfactory-evoked memories differs from memories cued by words and pictures and (2) the experiential qualities of the evoked memories vary over the different cues. The results showed that autobiographical memories triggered by olfactory information were older than memories associated with verbal and visual information. Specifically, most odor-cued memories were located to the first decade of life (<10 years), whereas memories associated with verbal and visual cues peaked in early adulthood (11-20 years). Also, odor-evoked memories were associated with stronger feelings of being brought back in time and had been thought of less often than memories evoked by verbal and visual information. This pattern of findings suggests that odor-evoked memories may be different from other memory experiences.
This study investigated (1) the influence of verbal and conceptual processing on the retrieval and phenomenological evaluation of olfactory evoked memories, and (2) whether the experienced qualities of retrieved information are affected by olfactory exposure per se. Seventy-two older adults were randomized into one of three cue conditions (odor only, name only, or odor name) and asked to relate any autobiographical event for the given cue. The results indicated that semantic knowledge of an odor's name significantly affects the age distribution of memories such that the memory peak in childhood observed for odors only was attenuated. Also, experiential factors such as pleasantness and feelings of being brought back in time were lower when odors were presented with their respective names. Olfactory evoked memories were associated with a higher emotional arousal that could not be accounted for by the perceptual stimulation alone. Taken together, the overall pattern of findings suggests that retrieval of olfactory evoked information is sensitive to semantic and conceptual processing, and that odor-evoked representations are more emotional than memories triggered by verbal information.
In an effort to find a simplemethod tomeasure implicit and unconscious emotional effects of food consumption,
a number of methods were compared in an experiment in which 3 groups of at least 24 subjects were each exposed
to a pair of yoghurts of the same brand and marketed in the same way, but with different flavours or fat
content. Themethods used were eye tracking of the packaging, face reading during consumption, a newemotive
projection test (EPT) and an autobiographical reaction time test based onmood congruency. In the emotive projection
test the subjects rated photographs of others on 6 positive and 6 negative personality traits after having
eaten the yoghurt. It showed clear differences in two of the three pairs of yoghurt. The autobiographical congruency
test failed to reach significance although all findingswent in the same direction as the ones in the EPT. Liking
and familiarity with the products were also measured and the fact that they were not related to the emotional
effectswas established. Eye tracking showed effects of familiarity when the measurements before and after consumption
of the yoghurts were compared. The results of the face reading test are not reported due to technical
difficulties. Although liking itself was not correlated with the emotional effects in the emotive projection test,
shifts in liking caused by consumption of the product did, indicating the emotional importance of pleasant surprise
or disappointment in the confrontation between the expected and the actual experience of the product.
Sensory differences in the fruit flavours had no effects on the emotional reactions, but change in fat content
did, while vanilla flavour had a strong positive emotional effect.
In an effort to find a simple method to measure implicit and unconscious emotional effects of food consumption, a number of methods were compared in an experiment in which 3 groups of at least 24 subjects were each exposed to a pair of yoghurts of the same brand and marketed in the same way, but with different flavours or fat content. The methods used were eye tracking of the packaging, face reading during consumption, a new emotive projection test (EPT) and an autobiographical reaction time test based on mood congruency. In the emotive projection test the subjects rated photographs of others on 6 positive and 6 negative personality traits after having eaten the yoghurt. It showed clear differences in two of the three pairs of yoghurt. The autobiographical congru-ency test failed to reach significance although all findings went in the same direction as the ones in the EPT. Liking and familiarity with the products were also measured and the fact that they were not related to the emotional effects was established. Eye tracking showed effects of familiarity when the measurements before and after consumption of the yoghurts were compared. The results of the face reading test are not reported due to technical difficulties. Although liking itself was not correlated with the emotional effects in the emotive projection test, shifts in liking caused by consumption of the product did, indicating the emotional importance of pleasant surprise or disappointment in the confrontation between the expected and the actual experience of the product. Sensory differences in the fruit flavours had no effects on the emotional reactions, but change in fat content did, while vanilla flavour had a strong positive emotional effect.
Using various medical and psychological measurements, this study performed a randomized clinical trial with surgical patients to evaluate if plants in hospital rooms have therapeutic influences. Ninety patients recovering from an appendectomy were randomly assigned to hospital rooms with or without plants. Patients in the plant treatment room viewed eight species of foliage and flowering plants during their postoperative recovery periods. Data collected for each patient included length of hospitalization, analgesics used for postoperative pain control, vital signs, ratings of pain intensity, pain distress, anxiety, and fatigue, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Form Y-1, the Environmental Assessment Scale, and the Patient's Room Satisfaction Questionnaire. Patients in hospital rooms with plants and flowers had significantly fewer intakes of postoperative analgesics, more positive physiological responses evidenced by lower systolic blood pressure and heart rate, lower ratings of pain, anxiety, and fatigue, and more positive feelings and higher satisfaction about their rooms when compared with patients in the control group. Findings of this research suggested that plants in a hospital environment could be noninvasive, inexpensive, and an effective complementary medicine for patients recovering from abdominal surgery.
Japanese people offer a great variety of cut flowers at their ancestors' tombs during four major events each year. In Kagoshima, however, they offer cut flowers throughout the year. Their basic offering combines cut-foliage plants, e.g., Eurya japonica Thunb. and colorful plants like chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat.). Frequently used plant types have good keeping quality and are quite colorful and economical. Cultural and religious differences in the areas influence local use patterns.
Changes in human emotions were investigated during exposure to three different indoor conditions: floral display present, foliage display present, and no display present. There were 20 subjects (10 males and 10 females) in each condition. The subjects were shown a video that introduced the University of Reading and included scenes of landscapes. It was shown that a floral display had positive effects on human emotions, such as composition and confidence, however, some evidence of a significant increase in annoyance was also found for this treatment. The foliage display had a somewhat negative effect by slightly increasing bad temper, and the foliage display tended to have a positive effect on clearheadedness. Investigations of psychological responses to nature are complex, and many opportunities for more work exist.
Research has found that flowers are associated with positive emotions. French motorists, both male and female (N = 2000) were tested in a hitchhiking situation. Five male and female confederates in their early twenties posed as hitchhikers either empty-handed or holding flowers in one hand. The men with flowers were found to solicit a higher response in the number of male and female drivers who stopped to offer a ride while flowers had no effect on drivers when the hitchhiker was a female. The association of flowers with romance is used to explain the results.
Three experiments, using ambient odors and incidental learning procedures, examined the effectiveness of odors as memory retrieval cues. Experiment 1 showed that a single ambient odor present on both learning and testing improved recall of a list of words over a no-odor control and a group that received the odor at encoding or retrieval only. Experiment 2 replicated this result and showed that whereas reinstating the odor context improved overall recall, recall of odor-related information was not significantly enhanced by the odor cue. Finally, Experiment 3, employing implicit and explicit retrieval tasks, demonstrated that the same odor must be present on both learning and remembering for the memory benefit to occur. The memory enhancement observed with odors was not due to the effects of semantic mediation. The results are discussed within the framework of encoding specificity of memory (e.g., E. Tulving and D. M. Thomson, 1973), and implications for odor imagery and cuing effects on odor-related material are addressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This study investigated the potential impact of odor imagery on the retrieval of autobiographical events. Specifically, the
main aims were to examine the influence of imagined odor cues on (a) the age distribution of autobiographical memories and
(b) the experiential qualities of the retrieved events. Sixty-four older adults were randomized into one of two cue conditions
(word or odor imagery) and were asked to relate any autobiographical event for the given cue. The results indicated that events
evoked by odor imagery were older than memories associated with words. Specifically, most memories evoked by olfactory imagery
originated from the first decade of life (<10years), whereas word-evoked memories peaked in young adulthood (11–20years).
Also, memories evoked by odor imagery entailed higher proportions of sensory experiences as compared to the word-cue condition.
However, other phenomenological qualities of the retrieved events did not differ between the two conditions. Overall, this
pattern of findings suggests that olfactory imagery influences temporal but not experiential qualities of retrieved autobiographical
memory information.
Onderzoek van Wageningen UR naar de invloed van snijbloemen op gevoelens en stemmingen toont postieve resultaten. Dit biedt veel kansen voor reclame- en voorlichtingscampagnes, maar ook voor verkoopgesprekken en toepassingsmogelijkheden in bijvoorbeeld restaurants
Six hundred and eighty adult patients with asthma and/or rhinitis were questioned about symptoms elicited by 46 different flowers and 10 common non-specific environmental trigger factors listed in a questionnaire. Flowers or birch twigs were reported to elicit symptoms in 79% of the patients, somewhat more often in rhinitis than in asthma patients, and caused symptoms as often in non-atopics as in atopics. Birch twig and marguerite most frequently induced symptoms, followed by strongly smelling flowers such as hyacinth, lilac, and lily of the valley. Unspecific irritants caused symptoms in 98% of the asthmatics and in 67% of patients with rhinitis. Tobacco smoke and perfumes were the most important troublemakers. A significant positive correlation was found for elicitation of symptoms from flowers and from certain non-specific irritants. It is concluded that non-specific hyperreactivity as well as reaginic hypersensitivity are the mechanisms involved when birch twigs and flowers elicit symptoms.
Female volunteers completed the Fawcett-Clark Pleasure Capacity Scale (FCPCS) and rated the pleasantness and desirability of a taste stimulus (cheese), before and during a depressive mood swing. Mood change was induced by reading negative self-referent statements, with additional 'booster' periods of mood induction to prolong the duration of the mood swing. The mood induction procedure (MIP) caused a decrease in contentment and alertness, as derived from a set of visual analogue mood scales, and also decreased hedonic capacity, as measured by responses to the taste stimulus and by the FCPCS. No changes on any measure were shown by a control group who read an equivalent set of positive self-referent statements. Prior to the MIP, there were no significant correlations between mood measures and hedonic measures, or between taste responses and the FCPCS. However, there were significant correlations between the size of the changes in these various measures following the depressive MIP. The results suggest that hedonic capacity is responsive to acute depressive mood swings.
Occupational respiratory symptoms caused by decorative flowers are seldom reported in the literature. In the years 1985-1993 four such cases of occupational asthma were diagnosed at the Institute of Occupational Health of Finland. Occupational asthma was caused by freesias (n = 1), chrysanthemums (n = 1), and tulips (n = 2). The diagnoses were based on work-related respiratory symptoms during flower handling in the patients' histories, specific challenge tests, and allergologic examinations. Flower allergy is rare but can even develop into occupational asthma. It usually leads to a change of profession.
The present research examined the possibility that repeated exposure may simultaneously produce specific and diffuse effects. In Study 1, participants were presented with 5-ms exposures of 25 stimuli each shown once (single-exposure condition) or with five repetitions of 5 stimuli (repeated-exposure condition). Participants in the repeated-exposure condition subsequently rated their own mood more positively than those in the single-exposure condition. Study 2 examined whether affect generated by subliminal repeated exposures transfers to unrelated stimuli. After a subliminal exposure phase, affective reactions to previously exposed stimuli, to new but similar stimuli, and to stimuli from a different category were obtained. Previously exposed stimuli were rated most positively and novel different stimuli least positively. All stimuli were rated more positively in the repeated-exposure condition than in the single-exposure condition. These findings suggest that affect generated by subliminal repeated exposure is sufficiently diffuse to influence ratings of unrelated stimuli and mood.
Despite the importance of affective processes in eating behaviour, it remains difficult to predict how emotions affect eating. Emphasizing individual differences, previous research did not pay full attention to the twofold variability of emotion-induced changes of eating (variability across both individuals and emotions). By contrast, the present paper takes into account both individual characteristics and emotion features, and specifies five classes of emotion-induced changes of eating: (1) emotional control of food choice, (2) emotional suppression of food intake, (3) impairment of cognitive eating controls, (4) eating to regulate emotions, and (5) emotion-congruent modulation of eating. These classes are distinguished by antecedent conditions, eating responses and mediating mechanisms. They point to basic functional principles underlying the relations between emotions and biologically based motives: interference, concomitance and regulation. Thus, emotion-induced changes of eating can be a result of interference of eating by emotions, a by-product of emotions, and a consequence of regulatory processes (i.e., emotions may regulate eating, and eating may regulate emotions).
The role of flowers in the bereavement process
- C A Shoemaker
- D Relf
- C Bryan
Shoemaker, C. A., Relf, D., & Bryan, C. (1992). The role of flowers in the bereavement
process. In D. Relf (Ed.), The role of horticulture in human wellbeing and social
development (pp. 43-46). Portland, Ore: Timber Press.
Swann's way (C. K. Scott Moncrieff, Trans.). London: Chatto & Windus (Original work published
- M Proust
Proust, M. (1922). Swann's way (C. K. Scott Moncrieff, Trans.). London: Chatto &
Windus (Original work published 1922).
Communicating with the healthcare community about plant benefits
- R S Ulrich
Ulrich, R. S. (2002). Communicating with the healthcare community about plant
benefits. In C. Shoemaker (Ed.), Proceedings of the sixth international people plant
symposium. Chicago: Chicago Botanic Garden. Abstract in Psychophysiology, 30,
(Supplement 1, 1993):7.