Emotional profiles elicited from orthonasal and retronasal perceptions of food (fruit) and non-food (floral) aromas

Abstract

Ten fruit (food) and floral (non-food) aromas delivered through the nostrils (orthonasal) and the oral cavity (retronasal) were profiled to determine the emotional response that would be elicited. The check-all-that-apply (CATA) variant of the EsSense® Profile was used to collect explicit emotional profiles for 5 fruit aromas and 5 floral aromas delivered orthonasally and retronasally. Regression, Cochran's Q test, and correspondence analysis were used to investigate the effects of delivery route and aroma quality on emotion selections. Participants selected positively valenced emotions for the fruit samples independent of delivery route and were more likely to be neutral and high-energy emotions. Participants selected more negatively valenced, high-energy emotions for the retronasal floral samples, while orthonasal floral samples resulted in more positively valenced, low energy emotion selections. Emotional profiles proved to be mediated by a combination of aroma quality and delivery route congruency.