Instruments:
Aromatherapy Machine
Davicon MEDAC System
Abstract:
Aromatherapy
is not considered as a cureall, but rather as an alternative way of healing.
The most common exercise of Aromatherapy is for relaxation. Other
oils promote stress reduction, stimulation, and sensory awareness.
Despite the current attention to Aromatherapy, there is little known about
its effects on people. Previous research is limited to examining
the effects of only one fragrance, usually a relaxant. this study
investigated two fragrances: lavender, a relaxant, and rosemary, a stimulant.
A repeated-measures analysis of variance showed significant differences
in lavender between the groups. There was no significance found for
rosemary. These results suggest that with this particular experiment,
lavender does create a state of relaxation among people.
Method:
Mood Inducer
Subjects will be asked to complete a packet of tasks. Each packet consists of four tasks. The first task was a word find followed by two impossible tasks. The last task was to draw thirty 3-d boxes. While subjects attempt to finish the packet given to them, the psychophysiological machine will monitor and record their EEG and SCR.
Odor Detection and Evaluating Forms
Subjects will be asked if they are familiar with any of the odors that were released into the room and what they felt their reaction was to the aroma. Subjects will have to indicate whether they are suffering from a cold or other head congestion in order to receive accurate data.
Procedure
Each subject will be taken
individually into the Psychology Department’s Demo room. After being
connected to the psychophysiological the subject will be read verbal instructions
on how to complete the tasks.
While carrying out the task
at hand, establish base line, four-minutes of lavender, four-minutes return
to baseline, vanilla, and four-minutes of rosemary. Group 2 will
have the same five-minutes for baseline, then they will get five-minutes
of rosemary, five-minutes of lavender, and the last five-minutes for base
line.
During the twenty-minute
sessions, the subjects were asked to learn the information given to them
in ten minutes followed by a test on what they have just learned.
While subjects are performing the task, each aroma will be released into
the room at separate times.
The Psychology Department’s
physiological machine was able to indicate if there was a change in the
subject’s hear rate and the electrical conduction in the skin and muscle
tone.
After the experiment was
completed each subject received a debriefing statement that informed him
or her of the true meaning of the experiment.
Results:
A repeated-measures analysis of
variance revealed significant main effects for skin conductance levels:
F(3,27)= 2.168, p,<.019. Additionally there were no main effects
for EMG. Mean scores are displayed in Table 1. From this graph,
it is evident that once a subject received the first intervention, they
were unable to return to baseline or become stimulated from the rosemary.
Table 1.
Baseline Lavender
Return to Baseline
Rosemary
Baseline
4.051
3.81
3.67
3.65
A Wilk’s lambda for EMG illustrated
that there was no significance: F(1,9)= 3.000, p,>.768. A lambda
of 1.00 occurs when observed group means are equal. Only significant
values can contribute to bivariate information about the differences between
means for each variable. This design showed for SCL no significance:
F(3,27)= 3.000, p,>.132.
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