title: Unpleasant odors increase aversion to monetary losses.
abstract: Loss aversion is the tendency to prefer avoiding losses over acquiring gains of equal nominal values. Unpleasant odors not only influence affective state but have also been shown to activate brain regions similar to those mediating loss aversion. Therefore, we hypothesized a stronger loss aversion in a monetary gamble task if gambles were associated with an unpleasant as opposed to pleasant odor. In thirty human subjects, unpleasant (methylmercaptan), pleasant (jasmine), and neutral (clean air) odors were presented for 4 s. At the same time, uncertain gambles offering an equal chance of gain or loss of a variable amount of money, or a prospect of an assured win were displayed. One hundred different gambles were presented three times, each time paired with a different odor. Loss aversion, risk aversion, and logit sensitivity were evaluated using non-linear fitting of individual gamble decisions. Loss aversion was larger when prospects were displayed in the presence of methylmercaptan compared to jasmine or clean air. Moreover, individual differences in changes in loss aversion to the unpleasant as compared to pleasant odor correlated with odor pleasantness but not with odor intensity. Skin conductance responses to losses during the outcome period were larger when gambles were associated with methylmercaptan compared to jasmine. Increased loss aversion while perceiving an unpleasant odor suggests a dynamic adjustment of loss aversion toward greater sensitivity to losses. Given that odors are biological signals of hazards, such adjustment of loss aversion may have adaptive value in situations entailing threat or danger.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZA, UK. Electronic address: a.stancak@liverpool.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Andrej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stancak
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematical Sciences and Institute for Risk and Uncertainty, Liverpool, UK.
authors.forename: Yuxin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZA, UK.
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fallon
authors.affiliation: Unilever Research and Development, Vlaardingen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bulsing
authors.affiliation: Unilever Research and Development, Vlaardingen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Timo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Giesbrecht
authors.affiliation: Unilever Research and Development, Port Sunlight, UK.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematical Sciences and Institute for Risk and Uncertainty, Liverpool, UK.
authors.forename: Athanasios A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Pantelous
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D003657:Decision Making / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D004644:Emotions / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D005715:Gambling / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009812:Odorants; D010465:Perception; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds; C005231:methylmercaptan
keywords: Decision making; Loss aversion; Olfaction; Prospect theory