A Study on the Relationship among Personality, Essential Oils Perceptual Experience and Brain Wave

• Main Authors: HSU, WAN-NI, 許婉鈮
• Other Authors: CHEN, CHIU-YUAN
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/tkwuak

碩士 === 南華大學 === 自然生物科技學系自然療癒碩士班 === 105 === 　　Research Background: Aromatherapy has been practiced for centuries in Europe, Britain, Australia and other countries. Its use as an auxiliary medication has been quite mature that a number of European countries have even included aromatherapy in their health insurance systems. Currently, the hospice has also introduced aromatherapy to alleviate the patient's discomfort that, through the distribution of essential oils aroma, terminal cancer patients can find happiness and comfort. Traditional aromatherapy emphasizes the functional properties of essential oils, typically ignoring essential oil users’ personalities, their emotional connection with the aroma, or their psychological or physical reactions to it. Therefore, this study will explore the association between individual personality traits and the olfactory experience of essential oils, and the objective parameters of brainwave signals are used to infer the correspondence between essential oil composition and olfactory sensibility experience that, hopefully, consumers can select the best choices of plant oils for their personal needs. 　　Materials & Methods: In this study, 50 college students, aged 20 to 24, have been enrolled to be recorded on the changes in their brainwave and the olfactory emotion scale after inhaling essential oils. The iconic oils such as the common monoterpenes and ester essential oils tested in this study are clary sage and grapefruit essential oils. Each subject has had to inhale the two essential oils, each of which was separated by one week apart. The sequence of the tested oils has been made by random selection. Basic personal information, the five-factor mode, PAD Emotional State Model and the brainwave meter were the tools used. Data have been analyzed by SPSS 18 statistical software, and Pearson correlation statistical analysis. 　　Study Results: For the friendly type, inhaling both clary sage oil and grapefruit oil is significantly linked to emotional arousal, showing that the individual initiating alertness of neurophysiology may be related to the emotional state of the body to pronounce the degree of energy. For the outgoing and neurotic types, pleasure is significantly connected, showing a positive characteristic of the individual's emotional state, and, that is, the nature of the emotion is active and happy. To further divide the emotional category, when inhaling clary oil, all subjects have experienced relaxation (P + A - D +), and, when inhaling grapefruit essential oil, all of them are energetic (P + A + D +). The brainwave also shows a higher perception in relaxation than concentration when either oil has been inhaled. 　　Conclusion: Personality traits, the olfactory-emotional facets of essential oils, and the brainwave are correlated in different dimensions. the results of this study can be used as a reference for the study of aromatherapy, as well as the basis for future personalized prescription emotional essential oils development.