Ruzeviciute and colleagues investigated whether scenting an object influences how far people feel they are from it. The investigators learned, using a number of different scents, objects, and distances, that scented objects seem closer than those that aren’t: the “effect emerges even when scents emanate from targets that are typically unscented (e.g., notepad. . .), it is attenuated [reduced] when the scent is not associated with the target. . . . presence of an object's scent biased participants by making them underestimate the actual distance to the object. This bias emerged across a range of distances (i.e., from 1.44 to 22.5 m) and objects, including objects that are not typically scented. . . . It also emerged across different scent presentation methods, including situations in which people are fully aware that the scent cannot directly come from the object, such as when sniffing from a vial . . . and situations in which they are not alerted to the presence of the scent, such as when the scent is ambient.”
Ruta Ruzeviciute, Bernadette Kamleitner, Zachary Estes, and Dipayan Biswas. 2023. “Sniffing the Distance: Scents Can Make Objects Appear Closer.” Journal of Environmental Psychology, vol. 91, 102104, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.102104