Attentional control in the attentional blink is modulated by odor

• Published in: Attention, perception & psychophysics Vol. 76; no. 6; pp. 1510 - 1515
• Main Authors: Colzato, Lorenza S., Sellaro, Roberta, Rossi Paccani, Claudia, Hommel, Bernhard
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.08.2014; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Activity levels. Psychomotricity; Adolescent; Adult; Analysis of Variance; Attention - physiology; Attentional Blink - physiology; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Cognitive Psychology; Computers; Evidence; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Hypotheses; Individual Differences; Male; Odorants; Olfaction. Taste; Perception; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Short Term Memory; Stimuli; Studies; Vigilance. Attention. Sleep; Young Adult; Attentional blink; Aromas; Attentional state; Human; Attention; Olfaction; Perception; Cognition; Experimental study; Visual attention; Odor; Cognitive control
• ISSN: 1943-3921; 1943-393X; 1943-393X
• DOI: 10.3758/s13414-014-0733-0

Increasing evidence suggests that `aromas have distinctive effects on the allocation of attention in space: Arousing olfactory fragrances (e.g., peppermint) are supposed to induce a more focused state, and calming olfactory fragrances (e.g., lavender) a broader attentional state. Here, we investigate whether odors have similar effects on the allocation of attention in time. Participants performed the attentional blink (AB) task, known to produce a deficit in reporting the second of two target stimuli presented in close succession in a rapid sequence of distractors, while being exposed to either a peppermint or a lavender aroma. In two experiments using a between-subjects and a within-subjects design, respectively, we show that the two odors have specific effects on attentional control: As compared with the calming lavender aroma, the arousing peppermint condition yielded a larger AB. Our results demonstrate that attentional control is systematically modulated by factors that induce a more or a less distributed state of mind.