Introduction

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the overall relation between the mean (at the nomothetic or group level) subjective valence and arousal ratings for odors. Although well established in other sensory modalities (e.g., visual, auditory, gustatory, tactile), this relation has not previously been investigated for odors covering a large range of the valence dimension. In addition, we evaluated the EmojiGrid (a recently introduced intuitive graphical affective self-report tool) for the affective appraisal of odors.

Methods

Young and healthy participants (N = 56, 32 females) used the EmojiGrid to rate the perceived valence and arousal for 40 different and randomly presented odors, ranging in valence from unpleasant to pleasant.

Results

The overall relation between mean valence and arousal can be described by a U-shaped (quadratic) form; odors scoring near neutral on mean valence have the lowest mean arousal ratings, while odors scoring either high (pleasant) or low (unpleasant) on mean valence show higher mean arousal ratings. The results for odors that were also used in previous studies in the literature agree with their earlier reported values.

Conclusion

Mean arousal ratings increase with (positive or negative) emotional valence. Participants intuitively used the EmojiGrid to report their affective appraisal of odors without any verbal labels or written instructions.

Implications

The current findings are relevant for various applications and environments (e.g., public, retail, entertainment) where odors are used to induce desired emotional states (e.g., relaxation, arousal) and behaviors. The EmojiGrid can efficiently be applied to assess whether specific odors evoke the desired subjective affective experiences.

中文翻译：

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主观气味体验中价与唤醒的关系

介绍

这项研究的主要目的是研究平均（在正常或团体水平上）主观效价与气味唤起等级之间的总体关系。尽管在其他感官模式（例如视觉，听觉，味觉，触觉）中已经建立了很好的关系，但是以前尚未针对覆盖大范围化合价维度的气味研究这种关系。此外，我们还评估了EmojiGrid（最近推出的直观的图形化情感自我报告工具）对气味的情感评价。

方法

年轻而健康的参与者（N = 56，32位女性）使用EmojiGrid对40种不同且随机呈现的气味的感觉价和唤醒进行评分，价从不愉快到令人愉快。

结果

平均价与唤醒之间的整体关系可以用U形（二次方）形式描述；平均价位接近中性的气味具有最低的平均唤醒等级，而平均价位高（愉快）或低（不愉快）的气味显示较高的平均唤醒等级。先前文献中也使用过的气味结果与先前报道的值相符。

结论

平均唤醒等级随（正或负）情绪价而增加。参与者直观地使用EmojiGrid报告了对气味的情感评估，而没有任何口头标签或书面指示。

含义

当前的发现与各种应用和环境（例如，公共，零售，娱乐）有关，其中使用气味来诱发期望的情绪状态（例如，放松，唤醒）和行为。EmojiGrid可以有效地应用于评估特定的气味是否唤起了所需的主观情感体验。