What smells we like or dislike is primarily determined by the structure of the particular odour molecule. A collaborative study involving researchers from Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, and the University of Oxford, UK, shows that people share odour preferences regardless of cultural background. The study is published in the journal Current Biology.
“We wanted to examine if people around the world have the same smell perception and like the same types of odour, or whether this is something that is culturally learned,” says Artin Arshamian, researcher at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet. “Traditionally it has been seen as cultural, but we can show that culture has very little to do with it.”
The present study shows that the structure of the odour molecule determines whether a smell is considered pleasant or not. The researchers found that certain smells were liked more than others regardless of the cultural affiliation of participants.
“Cultures around the world rank different odours in a similar way no matter where they come from, but odour preferences have a personal – although not cultural – component,” says Dr Arshamian.
The study was made possible through an international network of researchers that collaborated in a unique combination of experimental methods and field studies. The network comprised researchers from Karolinska Institutet, Lund University and Stockholm University (Sweden), University of Oxford and…
