Scentology - Meet Dr. Herz

Rachel S. Herz, Ph.D.
Expert in the Psychology of Smell
Visiting Professor
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University Medical School

Dr. Rachel Herz, PhD has been hailed as the world’s leading expert on the psychology of smell. She was acclaimed as a pioneer in the psychology of olfaction in a special Scientific American profile article in November 1999, and an example of her memory research toured in the 5-year traveling exhibit “Brain: The world inside your head,” which opened at the Smithsonian Institution in 2001.

Dr. Herz has been conducting research on scent, emotion and cognition for the past 17 years and has published over 50 original research papers, and contributed numerous chapters to college textbooks and academic anthologies. Her research has shown how odor-evoked memory is unique in emotional potency compared to other memory experiences, how emotional associations can change odor perception, and how odors can be conditioned to emotions and subsequently influence motivated behavior. Her work also deals with how language can manipulate odor perception, and the role that body-odor and fragrance play in heterosexual attraction.

Dr. Herz has been recognized by her peers as a star in olfaction. In addition to receiving a number of private and federally funded grants, she has been honored with several high-profile internationally distinguished awards, including: The Ajinomoto USA Inaugural Award, and The Moskowitz-Jacobs Award for Research Excellence in the Psychophysics of Taste and Smell. Dr. Herz is also repeatedly invited as a guest speaker to international scientific and industrial meetings, and is currently a keynote speaker in the “Distinguished Lectureship Program” for the Institute of Food Technologists.

Because of Dr. Rachel Herz’s world prominence and excellent ability as a communicator she is regularly interviewed by national and international media for television, radio and print outlets including: The Discovery Channel, ABC News, The BBC, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Independent, Time Magazine, Rolling Stone, Salon.com, Oprah Magazine and Cosmopolitan Magazine. Due to their popularity, Dr. Herz’s TV appearances, interviews and articles have been reproduced and translated into numerous languages ranging from Hebrew to Italian to Japanese. Dr. Herz also consults for many of the world’s leading multinational fragrance and flavor companies, including Proctor & Gamble, International Flavors and Fragrances, and PepsiCo.

In October 2007, Rachel’s first popular book, The Scent of Desire, which tackles all aspects of the psychology smell will be on bookstore shelves.

For more information on Dr. Herz, please visit her website: rachelherz.com

ABSTRACTS

DR. RACHEL HERZ, PHD: SCIENTIFIC DATA DEMONSTRATING ODOR EFFECTS ON EMOTION AND BEHAVIOR

Journal Article Source: Motivation and Emotion, Vol 28(4), Dec 2004. pp. 363-383.

Journal Article Title: Olfaction, Emotion and Associative Learning: Effects on Motivated Behavior.

Author(s):Herz, Rachel S., Department of Psychology, Brown University, Providence, RI, US, Co-authors: Schankler, Corrente, Beland, Sophia,

Journal Article Abstract:

Two experiments were conducted to investigate emotional associative learning to odors and subsequent behavioral effects. In Experiment 1, participants experienced a frustration mood induction in the presence of an unfamiliar ambient odor and later worked on puzzle tests in a room scented with either the same odor, a different-odor, or no-odor. Participants in the same-odor condition spent significantly less time working on the tests than participants in the other conditions; however, test accuracy did not vary. To clarify the findings, Experiment 2 included a test-only control and an emotionally neutral same-odor conditions. Results were compatible with the conclusion that decreased time spent by participants in the negative-same-odor condition was due to emotions elicited by associative learning to the ambient odor, although alternative interpretations remain possible. These data extend our previous results with children and suggest that odors readily become associated to emotions and can thereby influence behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)(from the journal abstract)

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Journal Article Source: Developmental Psychobiology, Vol 35(2), Sep 1999. pp. 103-107.

Journal Article Title: Ambient odors associated to failure influence cognitive performance in children.

Author(s):Epple, Gisela, Herz, Rachel S.

Journal Article Abstract:

We investigated whether odors can become conditioned to emotionally salient experiences such that when later encountered they influence performance consistent with a previously associated event. To test this hypothesis, 48 5-yr-olds were given the experience of failure/frustration on a cognitive maze in a room scented with fragrance and later given another cognitively challenging test in a different room scented with either the same odor, a different odor, or no odor. Results reveal that Ss who performed the test in the presence of the same odor as the maze task did significantly worse than Ss in any other group. Performance in the different odor and the no odor groups were equivalent. Facial expressions and verbal remarks made during the maze task indicated a predominant display of negative affect. These findings show that odors can become conditioned to experiential states and when later encountered have directional influences on behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)