Researchers hide the brand name in a blind fragrance study because the name changes how the scent smells to you. A blind test means you rate a coded, unnamed sample, so your score reflects the scent and not what you expect from the label, price, or ads.
This isn't just a guess about bias. Brain-imaging and consumer studies show that labels and marketing cues change both what people report and how their brains respond. If you join one of these studies, knowing why the brand is hidden helps you give the honest, useful answers researchers are paying for.
Official resources:
- Read the original research from NIH — Use this page to review the original research.
- Read the official guidance from NIH — Use this primary source to verify the official guidance.
Table of Contents
- How Much Can a Label Change a Smell?
- Do Price and Brand Change Ratings Too?
- What Happens When a Perfume Doesn't Match Its Ads?
- How Researchers Keep a Test Truly Blind
- How to Be a Useful Participant in a Blind Scent Study
- Frequently Asked Questions
How Much Can a Label Change a Smell?
A label can turn the same smell from pleasant to unpleasant. In a 2005 study, people smelled one test odour, isovaleric acid with a cheddar flavour. They rated it much less pleasant when it was labelled "body odor" than when it was labelled "cheddar cheese." Only the word changed. The effect went deeper than the ratings. According to the study by de Araujo, Rolls and colleagues in *Neuron*, brain areas linked to pleasantness were more active under the "cheddar cheese" label.
That happened even when the "smell" was clean air. So the label shapes how the brain responds, not just the number a person writes down. For fragrance research, the lesson is simple. A famous perfume name works like a flattering label. It can make a scent seem better before the scent itself gets a fair hearing.
Do Price and Brand Change Ratings Too?
Yes. In a 2008 Caltech/Stanford study, volunteers tasted wine inside a brain scanner. The same wine was shown once at $90 and once at $10. Plassmann and colleagues reported in *PNAS* that the higher price raised pleasantness ratings and activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex. Brand names have a similar effect.
A 2012 marketing study by Lowengart in *Innovative Marketing* compared blind and branded taste tests. It found that brand names change how consumers judge a product, and the results differed depending on whether people knew the brand. Keep one limit in mind. The wine and brand studies tested taste, not perfume. Fragrance researchers apply those findings to scent because the same kinds of cues, like price and prestige, surround perfume.
What Happens When a Perfume Doesn't Match Its Ads?
Blind testing also shows how often people misread a scent. A study of how consumers react to perfume below conscious awareness compared blind sniffing with what shoppers expected from perfume ads. About 45% of respondents mistook the test perfume for a different one. The mismatch had a cost for the brand.
When a smell didn't match what people expected, their view of the brand got worse. The same research found that new information, such as price or brand name, could change a decision a participant had first made without knowing it. That's why fragrance tests record your scent-only ratings before revealing any brand. Once the name is known, the first honest reaction can't be recovered.
How Researchers Keep a Test Truly Blind
Hiding the name follows an international standard. ISO 6658, the standard for sensory analysis, says samples should be coded with random three-digit numbers, with new codes for each test. You might see "Sample 418" and "Sample 752" instead of product names. The standard also covers order. ISO 6658:2017 notes that the order you smell samples in can bias results.
It recommends balancing every possible order in small tests and balancing or randomizing it in larger ones. So the person next to you may smell the same samples in a different order. Session length is controlled for the same reason. Repeated exposure to a smell can dull perception, which limits how many samples one session should include. If a study gives you only a few scents with breaks between them, that's part of the design.
How to Be a Useful Participant in a Blind Scent Study
Your value to researchers is an unprompted reaction. A few habits protect it: If a brand is revealed at the end, researchers may ask follow-up questions.
Answer those separately. Don't go back and change the ratings you already gave.
- Don't try to guess the brand. Rate what you smell, not what you think it is.
- Don't look up codes or compare notes with other participants before you finish.
- Follow instructions on breaks and palate or nose cleansing between samples.
- Report honest dislikes. A low score for a scent is still valid data.
- Skip heavily scented lotion or perfume on test day unless told otherwise.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will I ever find out which brands I tested?
Sometimes. Many studies reveal the brand only after your scent-only ratings are recorded, and some never reveal it at all.
Why does my sample have a random number instead of a name?
The ISO 6658 sensory standard recommends random three-digit codes, with new codes for each test, to hide product identity and prevent bias.
Why might I smell samples in a different order than someone else?
The order samples are assessed in can bias results, so researchers balance or randomize it across participants.
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