Smelling This One Specific Scent Can Boost the Brain's Gray Matter (sciencealert.com)
(Sunday August 31, 2025 @11:34AM (EditorDavid)
from the that-make-scents dept.)
- Reference: 0178952206
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/08/31/0621235/smelling-this-one-specific-scent-can-boost-the-brains-gray-matter
- Source link: https://www.sciencealert.com/smelling-this-one-specific-scent-can-boost-the-brains-gray-matter
"According to a new study, wearing the right kind of perfume or cologne can enlarge your brain's gray matter," [1]writes ScienceAlert
> Researchers from Kyoto University and the University of Tsukuba in Japan asked 28 women to wear a specific rose scent oil on their clothing for a month, with another 22 volunteers enlisted as controls who put on plain water instead. Magnetic resonance imaging ( MRI) scans showed boosts in the gray matter volume of the rose scent participants.
>
> While an increase in brain volume doesn't necessarily translate into more thinking power, the findings could have implications for neurodegenerative conditions such as dementia. "This study is the first to show that continuous scent inhalation changes brain structure," [2]write the researchers in their published paper. We've seen scents like this [3]improve memory and [4]cognitive performance , but here the team wanted to try a longer-term experiment to see how triggering our sense of smell might lead to measurable changes in brain structure...
>
> It's difficult to pin down exactly what's causing this boost in gray matter. Another possibility raised by the researchers is that the rose scent is actually labeled as unpleasant by the brain, with the subsequent emotional regulation responsible for the PCC working harder and increasing in size. The researchers hope that the findings could be useful in the development of aromatherapies that boost mental health and brain plasticity...
>
> The research was published in the [5] Brain Research Bulletin .
[1] https://www.sciencealert.com/smelling-this-one-specific-scent-can-boost-the-brains-gray-matter
[2] https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresbull.2024.110896
[3] https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2023.1200448
[4] https://www.sciencealert.com/brain-function-dramatically-boosted-by-certain-fragrances-during-sleep
[5] https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresbull.2024.110896
> Researchers from Kyoto University and the University of Tsukuba in Japan asked 28 women to wear a specific rose scent oil on their clothing for a month, with another 22 volunteers enlisted as controls who put on plain water instead. Magnetic resonance imaging ( MRI) scans showed boosts in the gray matter volume of the rose scent participants.
>
> While an increase in brain volume doesn't necessarily translate into more thinking power, the findings could have implications for neurodegenerative conditions such as dementia. "This study is the first to show that continuous scent inhalation changes brain structure," [2]write the researchers in their published paper. We've seen scents like this [3]improve memory and [4]cognitive performance , but here the team wanted to try a longer-term experiment to see how triggering our sense of smell might lead to measurable changes in brain structure...
>
> It's difficult to pin down exactly what's causing this boost in gray matter. Another possibility raised by the researchers is that the rose scent is actually labeled as unpleasant by the brain, with the subsequent emotional regulation responsible for the PCC working harder and increasing in size. The researchers hope that the findings could be useful in the development of aromatherapies that boost mental health and brain plasticity...
>
> The research was published in the [5] Brain Research Bulletin .
[1] https://www.sciencealert.com/smelling-this-one-specific-scent-can-boost-the-brains-gray-matter
[2] https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresbull.2024.110896
[3] https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2023.1200448
[4] https://www.sciencealert.com/brain-function-dramatically-boosted-by-certain-fragrances-during-sleep
[5] https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresbull.2024.110896
The experiment as described... (Score:2)
by PubJeezy ( 10299395 )
The experiment as described doesn't actually test the premise of the article. They tested the scent of a rose against no scent at all but they didn't actually test any other scent against that of a rose. As far as I can tell, all they've tested is the idea that the brain responds positively to any form of sensory input.
This isn't science. This is a scam.
The supply chain for this article, all the way back to the study itself, is entirely fraudulent.
Re: (Score:2)
by buchner.johannes ( 1139593 )
Agreed, instead of "Smelling this one specific scent ..." this should be described as "smelling a scent ..." , although even that might be misleading.
right (Score:2)
I'll be waiting for someone to replicate this nonsense.