Skip Navigation



Chemical Senses Advance Access published online on September 10, 2007
Chemical Senses, doi:10.1093/chemse/bjm063
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
33/1/65    most recent
bjm063v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Chu, S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Chu, S.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Olfactory Conditioning of Positive Performance in Humans

Simon Chu

Department of Psychology, University of Central Lancashire, Preston PR1 2HE, UK

Correspondence to be sent to: Simon Chu, Department of Psychology, The University of Central Lancashire, Preston PR1 2HE, UK. e-mail: schu{at}uclan.ac.uk


  Abstract

Olfactory conditioning effects have been widely demonstrated in the animal literature but more seldom in human populations and rarely of consciously controlled human behaviors. Building upon previous work on negative performance, we report the first experimental evidence that odors can be used effectively in a classical conditioning paradigm to positively influence human behavior. In the present study, underachieving schoolchildren experienced unexpected success at a paper-and-pencil task in the presence of an ambient odor. When they later experienced the same odor again, performance on other tasks was superior to that of relevant control groups. These data substantially extend previous results on human olfactory classical conditioning and show that odors potentially can be used to exert positive influences on human behavior.

Key words: associative learning, classical conditioning, emotion, odor, self-esteem, success

Accepted 14 August 2007


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Chem SensesHome page
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]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.