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The Influence of Emotionally Linked Odors on Autonomic Nerve Activities

Received: 18 July 2021     Accepted: 2 August 2021     Published: 11 August 2021
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Abstract

The limbic system, supporting emotions, behavioral motivation, and memory, in the brain receives coming odor before the sensory cortex. Therefore, certain odor can affect autonomic nerve system and physiological parameters due to smell-induced activity in the limbic system. The purpose of this study focused was to investigate the influence of odor, taking the level of arousal and valence into account, on autonomic nerve activities and physiological parameters. Eight healthy young males (20.6 ± 0.5 yr), who gave a response of high arousal (6.8 ± 0.5) and negative valence (1.5 ± 0.8) to the odor of vinegar (VNG), and an opposite response (arousal 2.3 ± 0.8, valence 6.6 ± 0.4) to the odor of orange (ORG), were selected as subjects. Heart rate and its variability (HRV), and blood pressure (BP) were evaluated for the subjects who were quietly seated, wore a plastic mask with a vapored odor-injection pipe, and breathed naturally the two aromas (VNG, and ORG). A no aroma condition was also included in the test as a control. Repeated measures ANOVA with a Turkey post-hoc test revealed a significant odor effect in the variables of HRV, and BP. VNG led to a higher ratio of low frequency /high frequency (LF/HF), and lower HF compared to the control (p < 0.05, p < 0.05, respectively). VNG also had significantly higher diastolic and mean BP than ORG (p < 0.05, p < 0.05, respectively). ORG, on the other hand, failed to show any significant odor effect on HRV and BP variables. LF/HF can be a sympathetic nerve activity indicator while HF is known as a para-sympathetic nerve activity indicator. Our results of breathing VNG thus suggests that odors causing negative valence and high arousal can facilitate sympathetic nerve activity, and/or withdraw para-sympathetic nerve activity. A higher BP with VNG compared to ORG can also be attributed to the effect of these autonomic nerve activities. Consider all the various factors together, it can be concluded that some emotionally linked odors were strong enough to modulate autonomic nerve activities as well as the level of BP in resting individuals.

Published in American Journal of BioScience (Volume 9, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajbio.20210904.16
Page(s) 147-152
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Autonomic Nerve Activities, Arousal, Valence, HRV

References
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[2] Nagai K, Niijima A, Horii Y, Shen J, and Tanida M: Olfactory stimulatory with grapefruit and lavender oils change autonomic nerve activity and physiological function, Autonomic Neuroscience, 2014, 185, 29-35.
[3] Haze S, Sasaki K and Gozu Y: Effects of fragrance on sympathetic activity in normal adult, Japan Journal of Pharmacology, 2002, 90, 247-253.
[4] Kanzaki S: Time course of autonomic nerve function affected by olfactory (aroma) stimulation (abstract in English), Annual report of cosmetology, 2015, 23, 148-154.
[5] Yoshida S, and Saeki Y: Effects of fragrance on autonomic nervous system, (abstract in English), Journal of Japanese Society of Nursing Research, 2000, 23, 11-17.
[6] Kawai F: A research on physiological effects of odorants in cosmetics on human autonomic nerve system (abstract in English), Annual report of cosmetology, 2007, 15, 120-124.
[7] Mori H, Kobayashi A, Kikkawa S, and Yamashita H: Effects of essential oil fragrances and preference thereof on blood pressure and heart rate in healthy human subjects (abstract in English), Japanese Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2009, 6, 137-142.
[8] Anderson AK, Christoff K, Stappen I, Panits D, Ghahremari DG, and Glover G: Dissociated neural representations of intensity and valence in human olfaction, Nature Neuroscience, 2003, 6, 196-202.
[9] Winston JS, Gottfried JA, Kilner JM, and Dolan RJ: Integrated neural representations of odor intensity and affective valence in human amygdala, The Journal of Neuroscience, 2005, 25, 8903-8907.
[10] Zawadzki MJ, Mendiola J, Walle EA, Gerin W: Between-person and within-person approaches to the prediction of ambulatory blood pressure: the role of affective valence and intensity, Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 2016, 39, 757–766.
[11] Kobayashi H, Ishibashi K and Noguchi H: Heart Rate Variability -An Index for Monitoring and Analyzing Human Autonomic Activities, Journal of Physiological Anthropology, 1999, 18, 53-59.
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[15] Carlson H, Leitao J, Delplanque S, Cayeux I, Sander D, and Vuilleumier P: Sustained effects of Pleasant and Unpleasant Smells on Resting State Brain Activity, Cortex, 2020, 132, 386-403.
[16] Matsumoto T, Kimura T, and Hayashi T: Aromatic effects of a Japanese citrus fruit-yuzu (Citrus junos Sieb. ex Tanaka)-on psychoemotional states and autonomic nervous system activity during the menstrual cycle: a single-blind randomized controlled crossover study, BioPsychoSocial Medicine, 2016, PMC4839105.
[17] Tonacci A, Billeci L, Mambro I D, Marangoni R, Sanmartin C, and Venturi F: Wearable Sensor for Assessing the Role of Olfactory Training on the Autonomic Response to Olfactory Stimulation, Sensors, 21, 2021, PMC7865293.
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  • APA Style

    Yasuto Nakanishi, Yoshiaki Sato, Hideomi Nakata, Hidehiro Nakahara, Yosimitsu Inoue, et al. (2021). The Influence of Emotionally Linked Odors on Autonomic Nerve Activities. American Journal of BioScience, 9(4), 147-152. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbio.20210904.16

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    ACS Style

    Yasuto Nakanishi; Yoshiaki Sato; Hideomi Nakata; Hidehiro Nakahara; Yosimitsu Inoue, et al. The Influence of Emotionally Linked Odors on Autonomic Nerve Activities. Am. J. BioScience 2021, 9(4), 147-152. doi: 10.11648/j.ajbio.20210904.16

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    AMA Style

    Yasuto Nakanishi, Yoshiaki Sato, Hideomi Nakata, Hidehiro Nakahara, Yosimitsu Inoue, et al. The Influence of Emotionally Linked Odors on Autonomic Nerve Activities. Am J BioScience. 2021;9(4):147-152. doi: 10.11648/j.ajbio.20210904.16

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajbio.20210904.16,
      author = {Yasuto Nakanishi and Yoshiaki Sato and Hideomi Nakata and Hidehiro Nakahara and Yosimitsu Inoue and Hiroshi Kinoshita},
      title = {The Influence of Emotionally Linked Odors on Autonomic Nerve Activities},
      journal = {American Journal of BioScience},
      volume = {9},
      number = {4},
      pages = {147-152},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajbio.20210904.16},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbio.20210904.16},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajbio.20210904.16},
      abstract = {The limbic system, supporting emotions, behavioral motivation, and memory, in the brain receives coming odor before the sensory cortex. Therefore, certain odor can affect autonomic nerve system and physiological parameters due to smell-induced activity in the limbic system. The purpose of this study focused was to investigate the influence of odor, taking the level of arousal and valence into account, on autonomic nerve activities and physiological parameters. Eight healthy young males (20.6 ± 0.5 yr), who gave a response of high arousal (6.8 ± 0.5) and negative valence (1.5 ± 0.8) to the odor of vinegar (VNG), and an opposite response (arousal 2.3 ± 0.8, valence 6.6 ± 0.4) to the odor of orange (ORG), were selected as subjects. Heart rate and its variability (HRV), and blood pressure (BP) were evaluated for the subjects who were quietly seated, wore a plastic mask with a vapored odor-injection pipe, and breathed naturally the two aromas (VNG, and ORG). A no aroma condition was also included in the test as a control. Repeated measures ANOVA with a Turkey post-hoc test revealed a significant odor effect in the variables of HRV, and BP. VNG led to a higher ratio of low frequency /high frequency (LF/HF), and lower HF compared to the control (p < 0.05, p < 0.05, respectively). VNG also had significantly higher diastolic and mean BP than ORG (p < 0.05, p < 0.05, respectively). ORG, on the other hand, failed to show any significant odor effect on HRV and BP variables. LF/HF can be a sympathetic nerve activity indicator while HF is known as a para-sympathetic nerve activity indicator. Our results of breathing VNG thus suggests that odors causing negative valence and high arousal can facilitate sympathetic nerve activity, and/or withdraw para-sympathetic nerve activity. A higher BP with VNG compared to ORG can also be attributed to the effect of these autonomic nerve activities. Consider all the various factors together, it can be concluded that some emotionally linked odors were strong enough to modulate autonomic nerve activities as well as the level of BP in resting individuals.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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    T1  - The Influence of Emotionally Linked Odors on Autonomic Nerve Activities
    AU  - Yasuto Nakanishi
    AU  - Yoshiaki Sato
    AU  - Hideomi Nakata
    AU  - Hidehiro Nakahara
    AU  - Yosimitsu Inoue
    AU  - Hiroshi Kinoshita
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    PY  - 2021
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.ajbio.20210904.16
    T2  - American Journal of BioScience
    JF  - American Journal of BioScience
    JO  - American Journal of BioScience
    SP  - 147
    EP  - 152
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-0167
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajbio.20210904.16
    AB  - The limbic system, supporting emotions, behavioral motivation, and memory, in the brain receives coming odor before the sensory cortex. Therefore, certain odor can affect autonomic nerve system and physiological parameters due to smell-induced activity in the limbic system. The purpose of this study focused was to investigate the influence of odor, taking the level of arousal and valence into account, on autonomic nerve activities and physiological parameters. Eight healthy young males (20.6 ± 0.5 yr), who gave a response of high arousal (6.8 ± 0.5) and negative valence (1.5 ± 0.8) to the odor of vinegar (VNG), and an opposite response (arousal 2.3 ± 0.8, valence 6.6 ± 0.4) to the odor of orange (ORG), were selected as subjects. Heart rate and its variability (HRV), and blood pressure (BP) were evaluated for the subjects who were quietly seated, wore a plastic mask with a vapored odor-injection pipe, and breathed naturally the two aromas (VNG, and ORG). A no aroma condition was also included in the test as a control. Repeated measures ANOVA with a Turkey post-hoc test revealed a significant odor effect in the variables of HRV, and BP. VNG led to a higher ratio of low frequency /high frequency (LF/HF), and lower HF compared to the control (p < 0.05, p < 0.05, respectively). VNG also had significantly higher diastolic and mean BP than ORG (p < 0.05, p < 0.05, respectively). ORG, on the other hand, failed to show any significant odor effect on HRV and BP variables. LF/HF can be a sympathetic nerve activity indicator while HF is known as a para-sympathetic nerve activity indicator. Our results of breathing VNG thus suggests that odors causing negative valence and high arousal can facilitate sympathetic nerve activity, and/or withdraw para-sympathetic nerve activity. A higher BP with VNG compared to ORG can also be attributed to the effect of these autonomic nerve activities. Consider all the various factors together, it can be concluded that some emotionally linked odors were strong enough to modulate autonomic nerve activities as well as the level of BP in resting individuals.
    VL  - 9
    IS  - 4
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Sports and Health Science, Faculty of Sports and Health Science, Osaka Sangyo University, Osaka, Japan

  • Department of Sports and Health Science, Faculty of Sports and Health Science, Osaka Sangyo University, Osaka, Japan

  • Department of Sports and Health Science, Faculty of Sports and Health Science, Osaka Sangyo University, Osaka, Japan

  • Department of Acupuncture, Faculty of Health Science, Morinomiya University of Medical Sciences, Osaka, Japan

  • Department of Health Science, Faculty of Human Science, Osaka International University, Osaka, Japan

  • Department of Health and Nutrition, Science Faculty of Health Science, Osaka-Aoyama University, Osaka, Japan

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