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

ABSTRACT: 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

SUBMITTER: Drnovsek E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12570350 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature