S: Sensory & Food Quality JFS S: Sensory and Food Quality Contextual Influences on the Relationship between Familiarity and Hedonicity of Odors H.-S. SEO, D. BUSCHH¨ UTER, AND T. HUMMEL ABSTRACT: The aim of the present study was to investigate how the presence or absence of a verbal label of an odor affects its familiarity or hedonicity. In addition, we wanted to examine how the participants’ age or sex influences the effect of odor-label presentation on familiarity and hedonicity. A total of 12 odorants from the “Sniffin’ Sticks” odor identification test were presented to 133 participants (50 men and 83 women) with an age range from 5 to 74 y. Familiarity and hedonicity of the odorants were assessed by using a 6-point scoring scale both before and after par- ticipants received the odor label. In 5 and 8 odorants, respectively, odor familiarity and hedonicity were significantly different between before and after participants had received the label. Moreover, the relationship between the odor familiarity and hedonicity was different between the situation when participants had an odor label or not. Specifi- cally, in odors that had been perceived as relatively pleasant without a label (orange, cinnamon, lemon, and banana) the correlation between hedonicity and familiarity decreased after the label had been presented. This was the other way around for odors that had been rated as relatively unpleasant when presented without a label (shoe leather, coffee, clove, and fish). Moreover, the odor label effects on the relationship between odor familiarity and hedonicity seemed to be influenced by the participants’ age and sex. In conclusion, our results indicate that the relationship between odor familiarity and hedonicity is not always positive, and is influenced by the presence of an odor label and other variables, including the participants’ sex, age, and expectations. Keywords: context, familiarity, hedonicity, odor Introduction W hen people accidentally hear certain familiar music (for ex- ample, Moonlight Sonata of Ludwig van Beethoven) from the radio, do they experience the same feeling? Many people may be pleased by the music. However, others may experience this as un- pleasant, and still others may be indifferent to the music. What de- termines these different responses to the same music? Let us sup- pose that we hear a newly released song of a famous singer from the radio. Is there any difference between the situation when we have or do not have information about the singer of the song? Now, let us suppose that the above-mentioned situations could be applied to the olfactory world. Several studies have already demonstrated that the hedonic tone of odor is positively related to the familiarity of the odor (Distel and others 1999; Distel and Hudson 2001). In addition, the quality of odors as well as the abil- ity to perceive odors is dependent upon numerous factors, in- cluding age (Venstrom and Amoore 1968; Doty and others 1984; Lehrner and others 1999a, 1999b; Hummel and others 2001, 2007), sex ( ¨ Oberg and others 2002; Choudhury and others 2003), per- sonality (Larsson and others 2000), cognitive ability of the partici- pants (Haehner and others 2007), and culture (Barber 1997; Ayabe- Kanamura and others 1998; Distel and Hudson 2001). Among these factors, we emphasize the role of verbal information in the per- ception of odors. To date, several reports suggest that verbal cues strongly influence olfactory perception (Distel and others 1999; Distel and Hudson 2001; Herz and von Clef 2001; Herz 2003), iden- tification (Jehl and others 1997; Distel and Hudson 2001), memory (Jehl and others 1997), familiarity (Distel and others 1999; Distel MS 20070930 Submitted 12/14/2007, Accepted 5/4/2008. Authors are with Smell & Taste Clinic, Dept. of Otorhinolaryngology, Univ. of Dresden Medical School, Dresden 01307, Germany. Direct inquiries to author Seo (E-mail: abc6978@empas.com). and Hudson 2001), and pleasantness (Distel and others 1999; Dis- tel and Hudson 2001; Herz 2003; Bensafi and others 2007). For in- stance, if an odor is verbally identified, it has strong effects on odor memory (Jehl and others 1997). In addition, the odors are perceived as more intense, familiar, and pleasant when they are given with verbal label (Distel and Hudson 2001; Herz 2003; Bensafi and oth- ers 2007). Herz and von Clef (2001) recently showed that presen- tation of a verbal label could change both odor perception and its hedonic level. For example, when the participants smelled an odor mixture of isovaleric acid and butyric acid with positive (“parme- san cheese”) or negative (“vomit”) odor label at each different ses- sion, they perceived the odor differently, and also showed signif- icantly different levels of familiarity and hedonicity to the odor. Also, a study by Herz (2003) demonstrated that the verbal label itself evoked hedonicity without presentation of odorant. However, little is known how these effects of labels on the perception of odors are affected by the participants’ age or sex. Therefore, the aims of the present study were twofold: (1) to ex- amine how the presence or absence of a verbal label of an odor affects its familiarity, or hedonicty; and (2) to investigate how the participants’ age or sex influences the effect of odor label presenta- tion on familiarity and hedonicity. Materials and Methods Participants A total of 140 volunteers (53 men and 87 women) with an age range from 5 to 74 y (mean ± SD: 29 ± 19 y) participated in this survey conducted at the “Deutsches Hygienemuseum” in Dresden, Germany. We set up a temporary small booth at the museum’s sci- entific section associated with food and eating. The experiment was explained to all participants in great detail and consent was obtained for participation. Data were recorded in an anonymous C  2008 Institute of Food Technologists R  Vol. 73, Nr. 6, 2008—JOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE S273 doi: 10.1111/j.1750-3841.2008.00818.x Further reproduction without permission is prohibited