February 19th 2009
Perceived weight reduced by special scent
Founder and Neurological director of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, Dr. Alan Hirsch, recently conducted research on whether the perception of body weight could be affect by scent.
A 179cm, 111kgs, woman was used as a model for the experiment.
A group of 199 males were split into four groups, three of the groups were designated a different fragrance, the fourth group was the controlled group. Dr. Hirsch created three different scent perfume sprays. Scent 1 was citrus floral, scent 2 was a mixture of sweet pea and lily of the valley and scent 3 was a combination of floral and spices. The three scents were assigned to the three male subgroups.
One of these scents was sprayed on the woman each day. Each male subgroup was then asked to look at the woman and make an estimation of her weight.
The conclusion was that among the men tested, neither scent 1 or 2 had an affect on the perception of weight. Scent 3 showed notable reduction in the perception of the woman’s weight by an average of 2kgs. The men who found the floral and spice scent pleasant perceived the woman to be a full 6kgs less than her actual weight.
For more information on smell and taste research visit scienceofsmell.com/
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