Effect of acute exposure to a complex fragrance on lexical decision performance

This study tested the effect of acute exposure to a commercialair freshener, derived from fragrant botanical extracts, atan average concentration of 3.16 mg/m³ total volatile organiccompounds on the lexical decision performance of 28 naive participants.Participants attended two 18-min sessions on separate days andwere continuously exposed to the fragrance in either the first(F/NF) or second (NF/F) session. Participants were not instructedabout the fragrance. Exposure to the fragrance did not affecthigh-frequency word recognition. However, there was an orderof administration effect for low-frequency word recognitionaccuracy. When the fragrance was administered first before theno-odor control condition, it did not affect accuracy, but whenit was administered second after the control condition, it significantlydecreased low-frequency word recognition accuracy. Reactiontimes to low-frequency words were significantly slower thanthose for high-frequency words, but no effect of either fragranceor order of administration on reaction times was found. Thepresence of fragrance in the second session apparently servedas a distraction that impaired lexical task performance accuracy.The introduction of fragrances into buildings may not necessarilyfacilitate all aspects of work performance as anticipated.