The Effect Of Peppermint On Cognitive Functioning Essay

JJonathan Ushyarov November 24, 2014 Professor Yannie Ten Broeke Li, S., Blatchley, B., College, A.S. (2014). Examining the Effect of Peppermint on Cognitive Functioning. Psi Chi, The International Honor Society In Psychology, 19 (3), 88-97. This study speaks about whether or not an alerting odor, such as peppermint, can affect attention and working memory. Research has been completed previously on the influences of odorants on cognitive functioning, physiology, behavior, and mood. From earlier research, it was resulted that a person’s atmosphere was affected in either a positive or negative way; depending on the type of smell they inhaled. If a participant smelled an unpleasant smell, it was determined that the person would have a negative change in their mood; when the participant would inhale a positive smell, their mood would change positively. The study consisted of fifty, female, undergraduate college students. The ethnicities that were use for this study were African American, European, Asian, Hispanic, biracial, and a very slight percentage was categorized as other. The experiment would begin at 5:00pm everyday, for four weeks. One of the three groups was administered each day. The three groups were either peppermint, expectation, or control. Each participant was seated down, given an instruction sheet, a laptop, and was not able to see the other participants from their view. The participants were told to put a facemask on and leave it on until they were told