Since the olfactory nerves at the nose differ and change thorughout age and gender, the offactory recepacators in the brain should interpret scents differently as well. We predict that females will be better at differentiating scents compared to males because females are more associated with scents than males.

The Olfactory nerve/first craninial nerve enables smell. It is the shortest nerve in the brain and upper nose. It's part of the autonmic nervous system and is what allowed us to smell and interpret scent. Substances have tiny molecules around, when you inhale them olfactory receptors detect it and send the information to the brain. Smell can also be detected at the back of the throat. When molecules are breathed in, millions of nerves are stimulated with activate comboneurons and forms a messge that gets sent to the brain. Scent molecules can also hide each other, changing the way cells respond. And if cells are genetically different in each person, the way scents are perceived must differ in both the offactory nerve and the brain

Manipulated variables: Age and gender

Controlled variables: Scents

A: Chloe by Chloe $215 (floral), 
B: Black opium- YSL $240 (spicy), 
E: Voge Viva- Valentino $215 (fruity),
D: Goddess-Burberry $130 (vanilla), 
C: Boss by Boss $134 (woodsy)
 

Responding variable: What the participants write down/what they identify the scent as

1. Smell the provided scent sample
2. Write down the first thoughts that come to mind (memory, what images pop up in your head, ect)  and rate it out of 10
3. Write down what you would associate with it and what it is
4. Repeat until you have done all five fragrances
5. Underline the scent that you like best

Scents were sprayed onto slips of paper then placed in a plastic cup, the vapor soaked into the paper and gave off better smells. Cups were placed around a empty classroom on desks in random orders. Participants came in and walked around, smelling each strip of paper and writing down their thoughts on the provided sheet we gave them. 
 

Ratings for scents A-E

Females age 13 and under
A: 10 6 10 9 5 1 4 6 8 8 8.5 7 8 10 mean: 7.1
B: 9 7 6 8 7 7 7 1 8 7 8 5 6 8 mean: 6.7
C: 9 6 5 7 8 10 7 2 6 3 7 4 7 9 mean: 6.4
D: 8 6 5 8 6 7 6 5 7 2 6 1 5 7 mean: 5.6
E: 8 5 4  8 8 10  5 8 9 6 7 10 4 8 mean: 7.1

Females age 20+
A: 7 9 7 7 10 9 6 6 7 7 9 5 5 5 4 8 3 mean 6.7
B: 8 6 6 8 8 7 8 4 6 7 7 4 7.5 6 5 10 6 mean 6.6
C: 5 7 8 9 7 8 1 2 4 6 6 8 1 7 3 3 1 mean 5.0
D:   7 9 6 6 6 5 9 5 8 9 2 6 8 5 6.5 4 mean 6.3
E: 4 8 4 4 8 9 8 8 6 6 8 7 8 10 5 7 5 mean 6.8

Males age 13 and under
A: 4 5 7 6 8 7 8 7 5 6 7 7 6  7 mean 6.4
B: 6 4 6 6 2 2 6 10 6 6 1 6 6 5 mean 5.1
C: 5 10 8 4 1 1 1 1 4 7 2 7 5 8 mean 4.5
D: 3 5 6 8 3 8 7 4 6 8 4 8 6 6 mean 5.8
E: 7 6 7 8 1 6 9 7 7 8 8 6 6 6 mean 6.6

Males age 20+
A:5 7 5 7 7 6 3 5 3 mean 5.3
B:5 7 3 8 8 5 4 6 6 mean 5.7
C:5 5 6 6 7 8 10 5 1 mean 5.8
D;5 7 4 5 8 9 9 6 4 mean 6.3
E:5 6 2 3 7 5 5 5 5 mean 4.7

A had many think of flowers and summer, a bright smell of floral overall
B gave off the impression of cake and sugar, a relaxing/happy smell. Males say notes of rich and fancy
C had soap/lavender smells, very strong and overpowering scent cucumber salad and apple cider was included. Younger females decided it smelled like a fruity gummy while younger males said it smelled like a generic air freshener. Many recognized the smell of Axe or deodorant, not a big fan of it.
D was mostly floral answers, younger females said gingerbread/candy, males said it smelled sweet like candy
E was mostly a tangy/vanilla scent, a fresh smell overall. Younger ones pictured a warm campfire, but mostly a citrus smell in general. Older females  answered a floral (white jasmine) smell
 

Male and female ratings and ideas differed quite significantly

Females were able to identify the scents more accurately

Girls 13 and under tend to rate higher than all other groups while male groups often gave harsher ratings. Fragrence C (the only cologne) was rated the lowest by all groups except the males aged 14 and older which rated C the highest. Taking into account the reasearch we can conclude that the hypothesis was correct, everyone interperates scents differently. Scent C especially had many different interperatations ranging from generic to a fresh salad, futher evidence out hypothesis is correct. 

In conclusion, the Scentsational project satisfied our curiousities, and proved our hypothesis right. The olfactory nerves at the nose differ and change thorughout age and gender, the offactory recepacators in the brain should interpret scents differently as well.

Since the olfactory nerve was proven to differ from ages and genders, it explains the differing scents demographics prefer. The perfume maket has such a wide audience, the research explains all the inconsistincies (concentrations, fragrence notes, ect)  within the industry. The infomation proves any fragrence can be liked, and it would be a extrodinary feat to create a scent no one in the human race likes.

Results could have been messed up as some gender and age range were not specified well enough

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We'd like to thank our science teacher for guiding us through each step of the project, our classmates for being supportive and offering their time to participate in the expiriement and our parents that helped us purchase and create the nessecary products needed for this project