Judgement of odor intensity is influenced by subjects' knowledge of the odor source

Odor perception, including intensity, is affected by knowledge of odor sour ce. For 76 subjects tested with 24 everyday odorants, ratings of intensity, pleasantness and familiarity were enhanced when subjects either could iden tify the odor source themselves or were provided with the name by the exper imenter. Ratings were highest when subjects judged that the names provided matched their own perception, suggesting an interaction between individuals ' cognitive representation of odors and their immediate perceptual experien ce.