Rachel Herz, USA

The Role of Odor-Evoked Memory in Psychological and Physiological Health

Rachel Herz, Ph.D. is a neuroscientist and leading world expert on the psychological science of smell. She has been conducting research on the sense of smell, emotion, perception, motivated behavior and cognition since 1990.
Dr. Herz is a TEDx speaker, has published over 90 original research papers, received numerous awards and grants, co-authored scholarly handbooks, and is an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University and part-time faculty in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Boston College. She is also a professional consultant to various industries regarding scent, taste, food and flavor, and is frequently called upon as an expert witness in legal cases involving olfaction.
Dr. Herz is the author of several distinguished academic and popular science books including the leading college textbook on Sensation & Perception (Oxford University Press) now entering its 6th edition, The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell (2007; Harper Collins), which was selected as a finalist for the “2009 AAAS Prize for Excellence in Science Books,” and That’s Disgusting: Unraveling the Mysteries of Repulsion (2012; W.W. Norton & Co), which analyzes the emotion of disgust from culture to neuroscience, and was listed as a New York Times Book ReviewEditor’s Choice.
Her latest book Why You Eat What You Eat: The Science Behind Our Relationship with Food (2018; W.W. Norton & Co) was a finalist for the “2018 Readable Feast Awards” and listed among the “Best Food Books of 2018” by The Smithsonian and The New Yorker; it explores how our senses, brain and psychology govern our perception of food, and the experiences and consequences of eating.

For more information see: www.rachelherz.com