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. 2025 Jun 20:16:1468416.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1468416. eCollection 2025.

Measuring emotions triggered by fragrance through behavioral paradigms

Yue Lv  1 , Hua Sun  1 , Hong-Yu Wu  1 , Kaiwen Xiong  1
Affiliations

Measuring emotions triggered by fragrance through behavioral paradigms

Yue Lv et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Intoduction: Fragrance has a positive impact on various aspects of people's emotions, experiences, and behaviors, such as product satisfaction, happiness, and comfort in daily life. While previous research has predominantly utilized physiological measurements or subjective evaluations, behavioral methods have been underexplored. This study aims to explore the measurement of emotional responses to fragrance through behavioral paradigms.

Methods: In a self-controlled experiment, participants were instructed to smell various fragrances and assessed their emotional changes before and after exposure using EEG, emotion scales, and behavioral paradigms.

Results: The findings revealed that the emotional bias measured by the Go/No-go Association Task (GNAT) was consistent with the emotional valence results obtained from EEG measurements, and the trend of time perception measured by the time bisection task was consistent with the arousal index measured by EEG. After smelling the orange fragrance, the EEG valence of participants increased from 2.61 to 3.68 (p = 0.017), the d value increased from -0.66 to 0.21 (p = 0.071), the EEG arousal decreased from 0.97 to -0.30 (p = 0.092), and the temporal dilation value increased from 57.24 to 67.51 (p = 0.038).

Discussion: The results indicate that changes in emotional valence and arousal in response to fragrance can be effectively assessed through behavioral paradigms. These results contribute to the fragrance product development and provide insights for enhancing multisensory experiences.

Keywords: EEG; SAM; behavioral paradigms; emotion; fragrance.

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Conflict of interest statement

YL, HS, H-yW, and KX were employed by the Shanghai China-norm Quality Technical Service Co., Ltd.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
The flowchart of the study.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
The box plot shows the Valence measured by EEG before and after smelling the fragrance, which is the hemispherical difference of α waves in the frontal lobe. The topographic map shows the distribution of α waves after the participants (N = 28) superimposed and averaged. *p < 0.05.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
The pleasure ratings of participants (N = 33) at different stages before and after smelling the fragrance. *p < 0.05.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
The d-values of participants (N = 17) measured using GNAT before and immediately after smelling (8 min).
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
The box plot shows the arousal measured by EEG before and after smelling the fragrance (N = 28).
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
The arousal ratings of participants (N = 33) at different stages before and after smelling the fragrance. *p < 0.05.
FIGURE 7
FIGURE 7
The time perception of participants (N = 17) measured using time tasks before and after smelling the scent (8 min). The bar graph shows the temporal dilation effect (TD), and the four line-charts show the fitting curves of time * percentage before and after smelling two different fragrances. *p < 0.05.
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