IT with a nose: scientists create "therapeutic perfumes" for fear of doctors

Scents have different effects on anxiety, but the brain and heart don't always agree with a person's feelings. This conclusion was reached by scientists from Moscow State University, who are looking for volatile compounds that can relieve the feeling of excitement in the doctor's office, in particular the dentist. During the experiments, the experts tested the aromas of lavender and African stone: the first reduced the subjective feeling of anxiety, but did not affect the brain and heart, while the second, on the contrary, caused shifts in the EEG, which indicates its ability to affect the body. At the next stage, artificial intelligence will be connected to the creation of an anti-anxiety composition. For more information about the study, see the Izvestia article.

Do smells help to overcome anxiety

Scientists at the Moscow State University Center for Artificial Intelligence, together with colleagues from the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, Skoltech, and the Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University, tested how the familiar scent of lavender and the exotic aroma of an African stone (chiraceum) affect anxiety levels. As the university told Izvestia, this condition is especially often aggravated in a medical setting, for example, during a visit to the dentist. One way to reduce stress is through exposure to aromas, but there is still little objective data on how odors affect the brain and cardiovascular system.

The pilot study involved 20 healthy volunteers. The subjects, sitting in a dental chair, alternately inhaled three odors — water (as a control), lavender oil and the aroma of an African stone. Each session lasted about five minutes. At that time, the specialists recorded an electroencephalogram (EEG), an electrocardiogram (ECG) and the level of subjective anxiety on the standard STAI scale.

It turned out that the scent of lavender did reduce the subjective feeling of anxiety, but it had almost no effect on the indicators of brain and heart activity. The exotic smell of the African stone, on the contrary, did not affect the assessment of anxiety, but caused shifts in the electroencephalogram (EEG) and heart rate variability, indicating increased physiological arousal. These data show that the subjective perception of the calming effect of a smell does not always coincide with the objective reactions of the brain and heart, the scientists explained to Izvestia.

Photo: Global Look Press/Zhao Jiasong

— This study is significant for several reasons. First, the influence of the sense of smell, that is, a feeling that has a pronounced connection with emotions and therefore has a high therapeutic potential, in particular, to reduce anxiety, was studied here. This potential is far from exhausted — we have only touched the tip of the iceberg. And in the near future, the right therapeutic smells will be generated using artificial intelligence. Secondly, we have developed a methodology in which the patient's anxiety is assessed by neurophysiological indicators and heart rate variability," Mikhail Lebedev, head of the Fundamental and Applied Neurotechnologies project at Moscow State University, project manager at the Moscow State University AI Center, told Izvestia.

According to him, it turned out that these indicators do not coincide with the subjective assessment of a person, that is, they carry additional information.

"Such monitoring methods are being developed today not only in medicine, but also in neuroergonomics, for example, when monitoring the condition of workers during work, as well as in the field of the Internet of bodies, where it is possible to receive physiological and neurophysiological data from many people at the same time," the scientist noted.

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AI in fragrance creation

The work is pilot in nature and requires confirmation on larger samples. Nevertheless, the findings show that odors can have different effects on anxiety perception and physiological responses, which is important to consider when developing stress reduction methods in a clinical setting, the scientists said.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Pavel Volkov

At this stage, the AI Center's scientists are focused on studying the ability of well—known flavors to reduce stress in order to determine which physiological and neurophysiological markers most accurately reflect their effect. The next step, according to Mikhail Lebedev, will be to combine data from neurophysiology and physiology with artificial intelligence algorithms to develop optimal molecules with a targeted anti-anxiety effect.

The work is very interesting and relevant: the role of odors in regulating the emotional state and the possibility of using them as stress management tools have not been sufficiently studied, said Andrey Martyushev-Poklad, a leading market expert at NTI Helsnet and the Union of Healthy People's Health.

— It is very good that the authors record the subjective and objective response to odors and analyze their ratio. This could be a step towards personalized aromatherapy," the expert emphasized.

Such research creates the basis for comprehensive efforts to support a person's psychological well-being, says Olga Valaeva, a clinical psychologist and head of MSU development programs.

"We can expect that in the near future, in stressful situations such as exams, dentist visits, or public speaking, fragrances will be used to help reduce anxiety, anxiety, and fatigue," she said.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Anna Selina

However, the very topic of the influence of various methods of influencing the human sense of smell to reduce the manifestations of mental or psychological disorders is not very popular today due to the low evidence of such effects, disparate designs and a small number of studies, said Arseniy Gaiduk, Acting director of the International Research Center for Neuropsychiatry at SamSMU, market expert at NTI Healthnet.

"More attention is being paid to the study of the role of smell in related fields such as sexology and social psychology, but there are also few such studies," the expert concluded.

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As for artificial intelligence, its advantage lies in the ability to process and compare large amounts of data, both about the flavors themselves and about human reactions to them. For therapeutic purposes, AI will be able to select optimal combinations of odors: for example, those that help to relax, but do not cause drowsiness and allow you to maintain concentration, said Evgeny Sobolev, co-founder of the biotech studio Scanderm.

First, we will focus on selecting compositions using AI that will be favorably perceived by people, and then, as data accumulates, it will be possible to obtain the most pleasant fragrance for a particular person, taking into account his characteristics, added Stanislav Stragnov, head of the Laboratory for the analysis of public health indicators and digitalization of healthcare at MIPT.

The work was published in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience.