Chem. Senses 24: 327-335,
1999
© Oxford University Press
Basic Emotions Evoked by Eugenol Odor Differ According to the Dental Experience. A Neurovegetative Analysis
Département de physiologie, Faculté d'Odontologie, Université Claude Bernard, LYON I, rue Guillaume Paradin, F-69372 Lyon Cedex 08, 1 Emotion et Vigilance, LPM, CNRS, INSA Lyon, bâtiment 401, 20 avenue Albert Einstein, F-69621 Villeurbanne Cedex, France 2 Microcapteurs microsystèmes biomédicaux, LPM, CNRS, INSA Lyon, bâtiment 401, 20 avenue Albert Einstein, F-69621 Villeurbanne Cedex, France
Correspondence to be sent to: O. Robin, Faculté d'Odontologie, rue Guillaume Paradin, F-69372 Lyon Cedex 08, France. e-mail:robin{at}laennec.univ-lyon1.fr
Subjective individual experiences seem to indicate that odors may form strong connections with memories, especially those charged with emotional significance. In the dental field, this could be the case with the odorant eugenol, responsible for the typical clinging odor impregnating the dental office. The odor of eugenol could evoke memories of unpleasant dental experiences and, therefore, negative feelings such as anxiety and fear, since eugenates (cements containing eugenol) are used in potentially painful restorative dentistry. This hypothesis was tested by evaluating the emotional impact of the odor of eugenol through autonomic nervous system (ANS) analysis. The simultaneous variations of six ANS parameters (two electrodermal, two thermovascular and two cardiorespiratory), induced by the inhalation of this odorant, were recorded on volunteer subjects. Vanillin (a pleasant odorant) and propionic acid (an unpleasant one) served as controls. After the experiment, subjects were asked to rate the pleasantness versus unpleasantness of each odorant on an 11-point hedonic scale. The patterns of autonomic responses, obtained for each odorant and each subject, were transcribed into one of the six basic emotions defined by Ekman et al. (happiness, surprise, sadness, fear, anger and disgust). Results were compared between two groups of subjects divided according to their dental experience (fearful and non-fearful dental care subjects) and showed significant differences only for eugenol. This odorant was rated as pleasant by non-fearful dental subjects but unpleasant by fearful dental subjects. The evoked autonomic responses were mainly associated with positive basic emotions (happiness and surprise) in non-fearful dental subjects and with negative basic emotions (fear, anger, disgust) in fearful dental subjects. These results suggest that eugenol can be responsible for different emotional states depending on the subjects' dental experience, which seems to confirm the potential role of odors as elicitors of emotional memories. This study also supports the possible influence of the ambient odor impregnating the dental office, strengthening a negative conditioning toward dental care in some anxious patients.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  C. Chrea, D. Grandjean, S. Delplanque, I. Cayeux, B. Le Calve, L. Aymard, M. I. Velazco, D. Sander, and K. R. Scherer Mapping the Semantic Space for the Subjective Experience of Emotional Responses to Odors Chem Senses, January 1, 2009; 34(1): 49 - 62. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. Seubert, A. F. Rea, J. Loughead, and U. Habel Mood Induction with Olfactory Stimuli Reveals Differential Affective Responses in Males and Females Chem Senses, January 1, 2009; 34(1): 77 - 84. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
O. Pollatos, R. Kopietz, J. Linn, J. Albrecht, V. Sakar, A. Anzinger, R. Schandry, and M. Wiesmann Emotional Stimulation Alters Olfactory Sensitivity and Odor Judgment Chem Senses, July 1, 2007; 32(6): 583 - 589. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
F. U. Jonsson, H. Olsson, and M. J. Olsson Odor Emotionality Affects the Confidence in Odor Naming Chem Senses, January 1, 2005; 30(1): 29 - 35. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. J. Gedney, T. L. Glover, and R. B. Fillingim Sensory and Affective Pain Discrimination After Inhalation of Essential Oils Psychosom Med, July 1, 2004; 66(4): 599 - 606. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. Bensafi, C. Rouby, V. Farget, B. Bertrand, M. Vigouroux, and A. Holley Autonomic Nervous System Responses to Odours: the Role of Pleasantness and Arousal Chem Senses, October 1, 2002; 27(8): 703 - 709. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. Rousmans, O. Robin, A. Dittmar, and E. Vernet-Maury Autonomic Nervous System Responses Associated with Primary Tastes Chem Senses, December 1, 2000; 25(6): 709 - 718. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|