A team at the University of Lisbon was conducting research to map brain activity and brain response to certain fragrances, working to create a database of results that provided subjective and objective insight into human response to scents.

“The goal is, in effect, to build a database so when you have a fragrance or a blend, you can predict what the response of our customers will be,” ​said Hugo Alexandre-Ferreira PhD, associate professor at the University of Portugal.

Read more in University of Lisbon mapping brain responses to fragrance: 'Sense of smell is the most mysterious' at Cosmetics Design-Europe.