Abstract
This experiment examines the effects of context on olfactory descriptions. Odors are difficult to describe, and their verbalization results in strong individual variation. Sixty subjects were asked to describe 12 floral perfumes in two environmental contexts: an isolated context in which the odors were presented one by one, and a comparative context in which they were presented in groups of three. The results show contextual effects on the verbalization of olfactory properties. When the odors were presented in groups of three, 1) the subjects generated a larger number of olfactory descriptors, 2) there were fewer unique properties, i.e. generated by only one subject, and 3) subjects were more likely to verbalize general properties than specific properties. We discuss these results in light of categorization theories and the role of perceived properties in the assignment of objects to a specific category on the basis of context.
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Giboreau, A., Urdapilleta, I., Richard, JF. (2003). Effects of Context on the Description of Olfactory Properties. In: Blackburn, P., Ghidini, C., Turner, R.M., Giunchiglia, F. (eds) Modeling and Using Context. CONTEXT 2003. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 2680. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-44958-2_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-44958-2_13
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