The smell of a first impression

A recent study examined how identical scents can actually smell different from one another, depending on the type of labeling used.

If a scent is paired with a pleasant-looking label, it will be perceived as a more pleasant smell overall than the same scent when paired with a more negative, less attractive label.

The reason is, our expectations actually influence how our brain perceives scent. Brain scans taken during this particular study reveal that the person’s initial reaction to the labels—positive or negative—affected how blood flowed to the test subjects’ olfactory processing areas.

How is that for first impressions!