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Often touted for its many health benefits, a new study suggests you may not even need to drink coffee to reap some of its rewards, an American study found smell of a cup of coffee could Headed by the Stevens School of Business with researchers from Temple University and Baruch College, the team conducted two studies to determine if the smell of coffee alone, which does not contain caffeine, could be strong enough to boost cognitive performance.
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In the first study, researchers looked at the Graduate Management Aptitude Test, or GMAT, an adaptive test required by many business schools.
They gave a GMAT algebra test of 10 questions to about 100 undergraduate students. a computer lab, and divided the participants into two groups.
One group took the test in the presence of an ambient coffee scent, while a control group took the same test in an unscented room.
found that the group in the coffee smelling room had a significantly higher score on the test.
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To study further, and find out if it was the smell of coffee that increased alertness and subsequently improved performance, the team designed a follow-up survey that they gave over 200 new participants.
their beliefs about the various scents and their perceived effects on human performance, with participants stating that they thought they would feel more alert and energetic when they would smell a scent of coffee, compared to a scent of flower or no smell
. exposure to the smell of coffee would increase their performance on mental tasks.
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The results suggest that feeling a coffee smell, although there is no caffeine, has an effect similar to coffee consumption partly because of participants' expectations, suggesting an effect placebo of the smell of coffee.
not only that the smell of coffee helped people perform better on badytical tasks, which was already interesting, "commented Professor Adriana Madzharov, principal investigator. "But they also thought they'd do better, and we showed that this expectation was at least partly responsible for their improved performance."
Madzharov now seeks to explore whether coffee smells could have a similar effect on other types of performance
It has already been discovered that coffee has many benefits to physical health, including a reduced risk of heart disease , diabetes and dementia, some even suggesting that it could even help us live longer.
The findings can be found published online in the Journal of Environmental Psychology.
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