Left or Right? The nostril you use can change your emotion!

Smell has an almost hypnotic ability to shift our emotional states, whether a scare event uses it to terrify guests, or advertisers use it to conjure fond childhood memories. We respond emotionally because our smell receptors are closely linked to a part of the brain responsible for processing emotionally influenced memory. It’s why when we encounter a smell, we’ll deem it “mmm, lovely!” or “eww, gross!” before any other observations come into play.

But did you know that the nostril you use to sniff can affect how you react to a scent?

It used to be believed by some scientists that the right nostril was inclined to provoke negative emotions, while the left nostril was inclined to provoke positive emotions. However, there has since been substantial evidence that the right nostril trumps the left when it comes to processing any kind of emotion, positive or negative. So, if you’re trying to impress a date but have to take the rubbish outside, avoid their right side!

Looking back in the archives, we can take note from a 1999 study by researchers in California to answer two questions:

- Is the right nostril really more emotionally provocative?

- Which nostril is better for identifying and naming a scent?

To do this, they gathered 28 volunteers and subjected them to 8 odours. For the first session, volunteers smelt samples through just one nostril, then for the second session, they smelt the same samples through the opposite nostril. After each sniff, participants would rate the odours’ pleasantness, as well as try to name them.

The results were clear. The strength of odours’ pleasantness was rated higher when sniffed through the right nostril, proving the right’s stronger connections to emotional reaction. Furthermore, volunteers sniffing through the left nostril were better able to identify and name scents. This shows that because the left nostril is not as linked to our emotions, it better taps into our linguistic thinking- the part of our mind that deals with language. Furthermore, it suggests that naming a scent is processed by our linguistic thinking more than our sensory thinking.

So, if ever you want to elicit an emotional response, try taking a big whiff through your right nostril, and if you’re trying to put your finger on the name of a smell, give your left nostril a go!