title: Attentional control in the attentional blink is modulated by odor.
abstract: Increasing evidence suggests that `aromas have distinctive effects on the allocation of attention in space: Arousing olfactory fragrances (e.g., peppermint) are supposed to induce a more focused state, and calming olfactory fragrances (e.g., lavender) a broader attentional state. Here, we investigate whether odors have similar effects on the allocation of attention in time. Participants performed the attentional blink (AB) task, known to produce a deficit in reporting the second of two target stimuli presented in close succession in a rapid sequence of distractors, while being exposed to either a peppermint or a lavender aroma. In two experiments using a between-subjects and a within-subjects design, respectively, we show that the two odors have specific effects on attentional control: As compared with the calming lavender aroma, the arousing peppermint condition yielded a larger AB. Our results demonstrate that attentional control is systematically modulated by factors that induce a more or a less distributed state of mind.
authors: Institute for Psychological Research & Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands, colzato@fsw.leidenuniv.nl.
authors: Lorenza S
authors: LS
authors: Colzato
authors: Roberta
authors: R
authors: Sellaro
authors: Claudia
authors: C
authors: Rossi Paccani
authors: Bernhard
authors: B
authors: Hommel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D054518:Attentional Blink / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009812:Odorants; D055815:Young Adult