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Chemical Senses Advance Access published online on September 11, 2008
Chemical Senses, doi:10.1093/chemse/bjn054
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Mood Induction with Olfactory Stimuli Reveals Differential Affective Responses in Males and Females

Janina Seubert1, Amy F. Rea1,2, James Loughead3 and Ute Habel1

1 Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen University, Pauwelsstrasse 30, D-52074 Aachen, Germany 2 Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA 3 Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA

Correspondence to be sent to: Janina Seubert, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstrasse 30, D-52074 Aachen, Germany, e-mail: jseubert{at}ukaachen.de


  Abstract

Olfactory perception is characterized by interpersonal variability. Although gender has been identified as a potential influencing factor, currently little is known about its effect on perceived hedonicity of individual odorants. This study assessed gender differences in emotional appraisal of 3 odorants (eugenol, vanillin, and hydrogen sulfide [H2S]), presented to 25 healthy subjects (13 males, 12 females) in a blocked design. Standardized scales rating valence and judgments of emotional experience were used for stimulus evaluation. Results indicate ambiguous pleasantness ratings for eugenol as well as stronger responses to vanillin odorant in female subjects; furthermore, in emotional experience ratings, the effect of eugenol was found to be gender dependent, evoking more positive and less negative emotions in female subjects than in males. The gender dependence of the mood response to eugenol necessitates reconsideration of this odorant as a reliable gender independent olfactory stimulus for studies on olfaction and emotion.

Key words: emotion, gender, hedonic valence, mood induction, olfaction

Accepted 11 August 2008


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