Demographic and geographical determinants of human olfactory perception of 909 individuals inhabiting 16 regions

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Drnovsek E., Abraham N. M., Abraham J. N., Alizadeh R., Aloulou I., Chen L., ...Daha Fazla

ISCIENCE, sa.113455, ss.1-14, 2025 (SCI-Expanded)

• Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
• Basım Tarihi: 2025
• Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.isci.2025.113455
• Dergi Adı: ISCIENCE
• Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Scopus, Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Directory of Open Access Journals
• Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1-14
• Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

The hedonic perception of odors is similar worldwide. However, our perception of smells is much more than

just determining whether an odor is pleasant or not. Here, we expanded this assessment by recruiting 909

people from 16 regions of the world and measuring 12 perceptual dimensions (e.g., pleasantness,

intensity, edibility), which were aggregated into an olfactory perceptual fingerprint. We used two

fingerprints: descriptor-specific and odor-specific. Age, gender, and region explained 1.1%, 0.3%, and 9.6%

of variance in the descriptor-specific fingerprints, respectively. Similarly, age, gender, and region explained

0.5%, 0.3%, and 8.2% of variance in the odor-specific fingerprints. Interestingly, odor intensity was more

regionally dependent than pleasantness. Thus, olfactory perception across the globe may be better differentiated

by odor intensity than pleasantness. Although there is some influence of individual and cultural backgrounds,

human perception of odors appears to be quite similar worldwide, even when assessed using 12

perceptual dimensions.