11.
“Cognitive, Emotional
and Psychological Factors in Fragrance Experience”11.
“Cognitive, Emotional
and Psychological Factors in Fragrance Experience”
by
P. Daton (2003)
in “Abstracts from Aroma, Touch
& Well-Being” June 5th
2003 sponsored by Colgate-Palmolive, as reported in Int. J. of Cosm. Sc.
(2004) 26, p169-170.
Copyright © Tony Burfield Aug 2004.
Unfortunately
the above magazine description forgot to mention the venue for the event, and
anyway, only reported on it fully 12 months afterwards. The abstract attributes
the following to P. Dalton of the Monell Chemical Senses Centre: "....the
frequency and duration of exposure to a fragrance can determine whether the
subsequent perception is diminished (adaptation) or enhanced (sensitisation)... “
The term
adaptation is clearly incorrectly used here. The definition of adaptation as is
universally accepted in the aroma world is surely the temporary
loss of olfactory acuity following exposure to a given specific odour stimulus.
The author really is talking about habituation, where long-continued (regular)
exposure to an odour leads to a perceptory diminution or actual unawareness of
the odour.
The idea that enhanced perception to an odour by rarity of exposure is
described by the word “sensitisation” is another unfortunate choice of word,
since sensitisation is usually associated with an adverse (allergic) reaction to
a fragrance. This aside, an enhanced reaction to a fragrance by virtue of rarity
or unique exposure is probably possible, from the following consideration at
least. If a subject is introduced to a single pure aroma chemical, it is
possible to start “seeing” that particular odour aspect in a number of other
smelling experiences, which may be of commercial fragrances or in some cases,
environmental smells. Needless to say this overall enhanced awareness to a
particular fragrance is more the result of higher brain processing function than
increased amplitude of olfactory neuronal responses.
It is important, I think, to use descriptive terms in perfumery which have the same meaning to everybody - I regret this muddying of the waters as reported above.