Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Indoor Air. 2022 Jan;32(1):e12919. doi: 10.1111/ina.12919. Epub 2021 Oct 28.
Essential oil products are increasingly used in indoor environments and have been found to negatively contribute to indoor air quality. Moreover, the chemicals and fragrances emitted by those products may affect the central nervous system and cognitive function. This study uses a double-blind between-subject design to investigate the cognitive impact of exposure to the emissions from essential oil used in an ultrasonic diffuser. In a simulated office environment where other environmental parameters were maintained constant, 34 female and 25 male university students were randomly allocated into four essential oil exposure scenarios. The first two scenarios contrast lemon oil to pure deionized water, while the latter two focus on different levels of particulate matter differentiated by HEPA filters with non-scented grapeseed oil as the source. Cognitive function was assessed using a computer-based battery consisting of five objective tests that involve reasoning, response inhabitation, memory, risk-taking, and decision-making. Results show that exposure to essential oil emissions caused shortened reaction time at the cost of significantly worse response inhabitation control and memory sensitivity, indicating potentially more impulsive decision-making. The cognitive responses caused by scented lemon oil and non-scented grapeseed oil were similar, as was the perception of odor pleasantness and intensity.
香薰精油产品在室内环境中的使用越来越多，已被发现对室内空气质量产生负面影响。此外，这些产品所散发的化学物质和香料可能会影响中枢神经系统和认知功能。本研究采用双盲被试间设计，调查了在超声波香薰机中使用香薰精油的排放物对认知的影响。在一个模拟的办公室环境中，其他环境参数保持不变，34 名女性和 25 名男性大学生被随机分配到四个香薰精油暴露场景中。前两个场景对比了柠檬油和纯去离子水，后两个场景则关注不同水平的颗粒物，通过使用非香味葡萄籽精油作为源的高效微粒空气（HEPA）过滤器进行区分。认知功能使用基于计算机的电池进行评估，该电池由五个客观测试组成，涉及推理、反应抑制、记忆、冒险和决策。结果表明，暴露于香薰精油排放物会导致反应时间缩短，但反应抑制控制和记忆敏感度明显下降，表明潜在的冲动决策增加。有香味的柠檬油和无香味的葡萄籽油引起的认知反应相似，气味的愉悦感和强度的感知也相似。
