Subliminal scents more likely to affect perception

Marketeers using scent to influence customers’ moods will be interested to know that the heavy-handed approach is probably less effective. Northwestern University researches have found evidence that suggests subliminal scents are more likely to influence behavior than stronger scents. Subjects in the study were asked to sniff three different scents: lemon, sweat and a neutral scent. After each whiff, they’d look at a picture of a face and evaluate it on a scale of likability. The scents varied in strength. It turned out that those who sniffed the scents that were barely perceptible were swayed in their judgments of the face, while those who were aware of the scents weren’t influenced at all. Read more in the Chicago Sun-Times and The Economist