Ambient odors modulate visual attentional capture.

Sudden visual events capture attention involuntarily because they may signal potential threats. Some theoretical accounts consider that the biological significance of these events is established through the limbic structures. Thus, the manipulation of the limbic activity would affect attentional capture. Since these structures are directly linked to the olfactory system, we have tended to modulate their activity with olfactory stimulations. We have examined behavioral performance in a task of attentional capture by luminance under conditions of ambient odors. Our results show that attentional capture is indeed modulated by ambient odors, and that this modulation may depend on the odor's properties.