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Visual search performance depends on the congruency of olfactory sensations
Castellotti, Serena, Soldo, Marija, Plank, Tina, Viva, Maria Michela Del and Greenlee, Mark W.
(2025)
Visual search performance depends on the congruency of olfactory sensations.
Scientific Reports 15 (1).
Date of publication of this fulltext: 18 Nov 2025 05:16
Article
DOI to cite this document: 10.5283/epub.78062
Abstract
We here provide evidence for a benefit of congruent olfactory sensations during a challenging visual search task. Using a four-channel olfactometer, we exposed our participants to one of three suprathreshold fruit odorants (lemon, apple, or strawberry) or neutral room air (no odorant) while they searched for an image of a cued-target fruit presented among fruit distractors. Congruent odorants ...
We here provide evidence for a benefit of congruent olfactory sensations during a challenging visual search task. Using a four-channel olfactometer, we exposed our participants to one of three suprathreshold fruit odorants (lemon, apple, or strawberry) or neutral room air (no odorant) while they searched for an image of a cued-target fruit presented among fruit distractors. Congruent odorants (e.g., exposure to a lemon scent while searching for a lemon among other fruits) led to greater performance levels and faster responses compared to trials where the participants were exposed to an odorant that was incongruent to the searched-for target fruit or to neutral room air, respectively. Post-hoc correlations across our n = 22 participants suggest that low performers in the baseline (no-odorant) search task benefited most from the congruent odorant-visual object coupling, whereas the visual search of high performers was impaired most by incongruent couplings. A control task points to large individual differences in olfactory discrimination across our healthy participants and their discriminative ability correlates with the amplitude and sign of the congruency effect. Our findings point to a multisensory congruency effect of odorant processing while participants visually search for a nutritional item among other food choices, suggesting that your nose knows what you are looking for.
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Details
| Item type | Article | ||||
| Journal or Publication Title | Scientific Reports | ||||
| Publisher: | Springer | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open Access Type: | DEAL (Springer Gold) | ||||
| Volume: | 15 | ||||
| Number of Issue or Book Chapter: | 1 | ||||
| Date | 31 October 2025 | ||||
| Institutions | Human Sciences > Institut für Psychologie > Lehrstuhl für Psychologie I (Allgemeine Psychologie I und Methodenlehre) - Prof. Dr. Mark W. Greenlee | ||||
| Projects |
Funded by:
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
(454765228)
Funded by:
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
(468434407)
| ||||
| Identification Number |
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| Keywords | Visual search, Olfaction, Multisensory integration, Food choices | ||||
| Dewey Decimal Classification | 100 Philosophy & psychology > 150 Psychology | ||||
| Status | Published | ||||
| Refereed | Yes, this version has been refereed | ||||
| Created at the University of Regensburg | Partially | ||||
| URN of the UB Regensburg | urn:nbn:de:bvb:355-epub-780622 | ||||
| Item ID | 78062 |
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