Emotional processing of odors: evidence for a nonlinear relation between pleasantness and familiarity evaluations.
Pleasantness, familiarity, and intensity are 3 interdependent dimensions commonly used to describe the perceived qualities of an odor. In particular, many empirical studies have demonstrated a positive correlation between familiarity and pleasantness. However, on the basis of both theoretical and methodological perspectives, we questioned the validity of such a relation for malodors. We report 2 studies based on subjective judgments of a large sample of odorants (Experiment 1) associated with autonomic recordings (Experiment 2). Multivariate exploratory analysis performed on the data splits the whole odorant set into 2 subsets composed, respectively, of unpleasant and pleasant odorants. Subsequent correlation analyses have shown that the relation between pleasantness and familiarity is specific for the pleasant odors in the 2 experiments. Moreover, autonomic activity was more important in response to malodors than to pleasant odors and was significantly correlated with unpleasantness ratings in the subset of unpleasant odors. These 2 studies argue in favor of a functional dissociation in the relations between both subjective and autonomic responses to odors as a function of pleasantness and indicate that researchers in the olfactory domain should consider the relations between pleasantness and familiarity as more complex than linear.
Delplanque
Sylvain
S
Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, rue des Battoirs 7, 1205 Geneva, Switzerland. sylvain.delplanque@pse.unige.ch
Grandjean
Didier
D
Chrea
Christelle
C
Aymard
Laurence
L
Cayeux
Isabelle
I
Le Calvé
Bénédicte
B
Velazco
Maria Inés
MI
Scherer
Klaus R
KR
Sander
David
D
D000328:Adult; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009812:Odorants; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*; D013268:Stimulation, Chemical