Olfactory perception

Pheromone Science Studies & Abstracts
1

Pleasant odors perceived the same by different cultures

“Furthermore, olfactory perception is a heavily learned process (Brennan and Keverne, 1997; Wilson and Stevenson, 2006) that critically depends on past and ongoing experience and exposure (Keverne, 1995; Wilson, 2003; Davis, 2004). The dynamics of this dominant aspect of olfactory perception will obviously not be reflected in physicochemical structure. However, a portion of olfactory perception is innate and hard-wired (Dielenberg and McGregor, 2001), and our results concern this part.” (p. 10021)

Interpretation: Though there are genetic predispositions involved in the development of our preferences for chemical stimuli, exposure and experience are very important to what we learn to either prefer or avoid.

There’s a link to an Olfactory Perception Map (example) in the article:
Olfactory Perception Data Base: Map of Perceptual Similarity

It’s not difficult to imagine that this will extend well to studies of putative human pheromones.

James V. Kohl

2

I never would have though what smells good and what smells bad would be determined by culture, although LEARNED smells may be (there is one “Indian Temple” incense that smells bad to most people who do not use it, including myself the first time I smelled it but later it did not smell as bad and there is one version I actually like now).