Understanding the impact of pleasant odours on the emotional processing networks in the brain

嗅觉是两种化学感官之一，能够探测到空气中微小的挥发性化合物。它对许多行为都很重要，比如食物定位、威胁和危险的识别，以及可能的配偶。从解剖学上讲，这是唯一一种能绕过丘脑的感觉，而丘脑以其在情绪调节中的主要作用而闻名。由于这种特殊性，许多研究人员使用各种方法研究嗅觉和情感网络之间的相互作用。人们已经发现，大脑是根据气味的享乐价来处理气味的。大多数脑电图研究表明，这种相互作用在后期正电位（LPP）成分中作为人脸/身体表情识别的气味-价调制。此外，fMRI结果表明，梨状皮质主要与主观气味强度有关，而后眶额皮质主要与气味者的主观享乐音调有关。然而，大多数研究只使用具有不同享乐色调的气味来调查这种相互作用。因此，我们的目标是通过使用神经成像技术，特别关注具有类似快乐音调的令人愉快的气味如何影响情绪处理神经网络。此外，我们正在研究这种对外部刺激（面孔、物体和场景的图片）和自我报告的内部情绪的情绪判断的影响。这项研究有许多应用，特别是在工业和工程设置和医疗领域（如芳香疗法）。在第一年，进行了范围审查，以了解关于这种相互作用的先前发现的数量，并确定文献中的空白。符合条件的标准只需要基于人类的研究，包括神经成像技术，旨在调查气味和情绪之间的相互作用。根据调查结果，制定了博士的总体目标和问题。之后，进行了一项受试者内部行为研究作为试点，以选择最佳刺激。气味是香草、玫瑰、薰衣草、柠檬和清新空气（作为对照）；它们通过嗅觉计被送到参与者的鼻孔里。作为视觉刺激，研究人员选择了显示快乐和中性面孔、情绪和中性物体以及情绪和中性景观的图片。对于每张图片，参与者被要求在闻到每一种气味时对其愉快程度进行评分。此外，他们还被要求对每种气味的情绪状态（怀旧、快乐、厌恶、口渴、感官、放松和饥饿）进行评级。定量分析采用方差分析和线性模型。这项研究的发现将为下一项研究提供合适的刺激，这将是一项脑电图研究，旨在找到气味和情绪之间相互作用的神经关联。它将基于ERP或时频分析。在此之后的第三年，目前的目标是进行fMRI研究，以进一步研究这种相互作用并绘制相关的大脑区域。由于这些假设仅仅是探索性的，因此还没有做出适当的期望。然而，根据最一致的发现，香草味可能是对改善情绪判断和内部情绪影响最大的气味。这可能是由于这种气味与母乳喂养的气味非常相似，类似于香草味。

Olfaction is one of the two chemical senses able to detect small volatile compounds found in the air. It is important for many behaviours such as food localisation, identifications of threats and danger, and possible mates. Anatomically, it is the only sense presenting a trajectory that bypasses the thalamus, region known for its main role in emotional modulation. Because of this peculiarity, many researchers have investigated the interaction between olfaction and the emotional network, using a wide range of methodologies. It has been found that the brain processes odorants based on their hedonic valence. Most EEG studies have shown the evidence of this interaction in the late positive potential (LPP) components as odour-valence modulation of face/body expression recognition. Moreover, fMRI results suggested that the piriform cortex is mainly associated to subjective odour intensity, while the posterior orbitofrontal cortex is mainly associated to the subjective hedonic tone of the odorant. However, most of the research has only investigated this interaction using odours with very different hedonic tones. Hence, our aim is to focus specifically on how pleasant odours, therefore with similar hedonic tone, influence the emotional processing neural networks, by using neuroimaging techniques. Moreover, we are investigating this influence on emotional judgements towards external stimuli (pictures of faces, objects, and scenario) and on self-reported internal moods. This research has many applications, especially in the industrial and engineering setting and in the medical field (e.g., aromatherapy). In the first year, a scoping review was conducted to understand the volume of previous findings regarding this interaction and identify the gaps in the literature. The eligible criteria required only human-based studies, involving neuroimaging techniques, aiming to investigate specifically the interaction between odours and emotions. Based on its findings, the PhD general aim and question were formulated. After, a behavioural within-subjects study was conducted as pilot, to select the best stimuli. The odours were Vanilla, Rose, Lavender, Lemon and clean air (as control); they were delivered to the participant's nostrils using an olfactometer. As visual stimuli, pictures showing happy and neutral faces, emotional and neutral objects, and emotional and neutral landscapes were selected. For each picture, participants were required to rate the pleasantness while smelling each odour. Moreover, they were required to rate their emotional states (nostalgic, happy, disgusted, thirsty, sensual, relaxed, and hungry) during each odour. The quantitative analysis is conducted using ANOVAs and linear modelling. This study's findings will lead to the proper set of stimuli for the next study, which will be an EEG research, aiming to find the neural correlates of the interaction between odours and emotions. It will be based on ERP or time-frequency analysis. Following this, during the third year, the current goal is to conduct an fMRI study to further investigate this interaction and map the brain regions involved.Since the hypotheses are merely exploratory, proper expectations are not made yet. However, based on the most consistent findings, vanilla might be the odour with the strongest influence on improving emotional judgements and internal moods. This could due to the strict similarity with the breastfeeding odour, which resemble the vanilla one.