Pleasant and Unpleasant Odors Influence Hedonic Evaluations of Human Faces: An Event-Related Potential Study

Cook, Stephanie, Fallon, Nicholas ORCID: 0000-0003-1451-6983, Wright, Hazel, Thomas, Anna, Giesbrecht, Timo, Field, Matt and Stancak, Andrej ORCID: 0000-0003-3323-3305 (2015) Pleasant and Unpleasant Odors Influence Hedonic Evaluations of Human Faces: An Event-Related Potential Study FRONTIERS IN HUMAN NEUROSCIENCE, 9 (DEC). 661-. ISSN 1662-5161, 1662-5161

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Abstract

Odors can alter hedonic evaluations of human faces, but the neural mechanisms of such effects are poorly understood. The present study aimed to analyze the neural underpinning of odor-induced changes in evaluations of human faces in an odor-priming paradigm, using event-related potentials (ERPs). Healthy, young participants (N = 20) rated neutral faces presented after a 3 s pulse of a pleasant odor (jasmine), unpleasant odor (methylmercaptan), or no-odor control (clean air). Neutral faces presented in the pleasant odor condition were rated more pleasant than the same faces presented in the no-odor control condition, which in turn were rated more pleasant than faces in the unpleasant odor condition. Analysis of face-related potentials revealed four clusters of electrodes significantly affected by odor condition at specific time points during long-latency epochs (600−950 ms). In the 620−640 ms interval, two scalp-time clusters showed greater negative potential in the right parietal electrodes in response to faces in the pleasant odor condition, compared to those in the no-odor and unpleasant odor conditions. At 926 ms, face-related potentials showed greater positivity in response to faces in the pleasant and unpleasant odor conditions at the left and right lateral frontal-temporal electrodes, respectively. Our data shows that odor-induced shifts in evaluations of faces were associated with amplitude changes in the late (>600) and ultra-late (>900 ms) latency epochs. The observed amplitude changes during the ultra-late epoch are consistent with a left/right hemisphere bias towards pleasant/unpleasant odor effects. Odors alter evaluations of human faces, even when there is a temporal lag between presentation of odors and faces. Our results provide an initial understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying effects of odors on hedonic evaluations.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	odors, faces, perception, evaluation, event-related-potential
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	05 Aug 2016 07:20
Last Modified:	16 Jun 2026 12:06
DOI:	10.3389/fnhum.2015.00661
Related Websites:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3002773
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