Academic Work

Rachel Herz, PhD has been conducting research on olfaction, emotion and cognition since 1990. She has published over 80 original research papers, co-edited college textbooks and received a number of grants and prestigious awards. 


Since 2000 Dr. Herz has been on the faculty at Brown University and since 2013 she has also been teaching at Boston College.  Among her major contributions are her studies showing how odor-evoked memory is emotionally unique compared to other memory experiences and  how emotional associations to odors can change perception and behavior.  Her work also deals with how language can affect odor perception and the role that body-odor and fragrance  play in heterosexual attraction.  Rachel Herz also conducts research on the connections between taste sensitivity and emotional disgust, and how emotions and sensory information are involved in eating behavior. 

College Textbooks

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Sample Research Publications:


 The influence of circadian timing on odor detection- 2018. Chemical Senses, 43, 45-51. Herz, R.S., Van Reen, E., Barker, D., Hilditch, C., Bartz, A. & Carskadon, M.A. 2018).

The (non)-effect of induced emotion on desire for different types of foods-2017. Food Quality and Preference, 62, 214-17.   Ershadi, M., Russell, J.A. & Herz, R.S.

The role of odor-evoked memory in psychological and physiological health- 2016. Brain Sciences, 6(3),22. doi:10.3390/brainsci6030022. Herz, R. S.


Birth of a Neurogastronomy Nation- 2016. Chemical Senses, 41, 101-103. Herz, R.S.


Proustian products are preferred: The relationship between odor-evoked memories and product evaluation- 2015. Chemosensory Perception, 8, 1-10. Sugiyama, H., Oshida, A., Thueneman, P.,  Littell, S., Katayama, A., Kashiwagi, M., Hikichi, S. & Herz, R.S. 


Verbal priming and taste sensitivity make moral transgressions gross-2014. Behavioral Neuroscience, 128, 20-28. Herz, R.S. 


PROP taste sensitivity is related to visceral but not moral disgust - 2011. Chemosensory Perception, 4, 72-79. Herz, R.S.


Aromatherapy facts and fictions: A scientific analysis of olfactory effects on mood, physiology and behavior-2009. International Journal of Neuroscience, 119, 263-290. Herz, R.S.


Odor-associative learning and emotion: Effects on perception and behavior – 2005. Chemical Senses, 30, 250-251. Herz, R.S.


Changing odor hedonic perception through emotional associations in humans – 2004. International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 17, 315-339. Herz, R.S., Beland, S.L. & Hellerstein, M.


Olfaction, emotion and associative learning: Effects on motivated behavior – 2004. Motivation and Emotion, 28, 363-383. Herz, R.S.,  Schankler, C. &  Beland, S.


Neuroimaging evidence for the emotional potency of odor-evoked memory – 2004. Neuropsychologia, 42, 371-378. Herz, R.S., Eliassen, J.C., Beland, S.L., & T. Souza.


Gender differences in response to physical and social signals involved in human mate selection: The importance of smell for women – 2002. Evolution and Human Behavior, 23, 359-364. Herz, R.S., & Inzlicht, M.  


The influence of verbal labeling on the perception of odors:  Evidence for olfactory illusions? – 2001. Perception, 30, 381-391. Herz, R.S., & von Clef, J.


Are odors the best cues to memory? A cross-modal comparison of associative memory stimuli – 1998. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 855, 670-674. Herz R.S.


Emotion experienced during encoding enhances odor retrieval cue effectiveness – 1997. American Journal of Psychology, 110, 489-505. Herz, R.S.


See complete CV