Later, the effect of feeling Christmassy was investigated using a mince pie test. Men and women from a different volunteer group were put in separate rooms containing plates of mince pies, and asked to help themselves.

One room contained candles, carols and cinnamon; the other candles, classical music and pine. After 10 minutes, volunteers in the more Christmassy room had scoffed 20 mince pies while the others had eaten only 13.

Professor Michael Brammer, whose research company Neurosense carried out the study, said: “We compared the best and worst combinations and found that significantly more pies were eaten in the room with the best combination. Presumably this was because volunteers in that room felt more Christmassy.”

Volunteers were put in front of a computer screen wearing a pair of headphones, with tubes inserted into their noses to produce the smells. Professor Brammer said the key finding was that combinations of experiences had a much bigger impact than any sensation on its own.

“It’s called the cocktail effect, and it’s well known in multisensory studies,” he said. “None of the sensations were thought of as very Christmassy on their own, but in combination it was a different story.”

As reported in The Scotsman, the complete results from the experiment are as follows:

Smell pic mus Average

C can carol 7.3

A can carol 6.2

C tre carol 5.7

A tre carol 5.55

C tre classic 5.55

C fam carol 5.4

A fam carol 5.3

B can carol 5.2

C can pop 5.15

A tre pop 5.15

B tre carol 5

C tre pop 4.95

C fam pop 4.9

B tre pop 4.7

B can pop 4.6

C fam classic 4.45

A fam classic 4.2

B fam carol 4.15

C can classic 4

A can pop 4

A can classic 3.95

A tre classic 3.85

B fam pop 3.8

A fam pop 3.65

B tre classic 3.6

B fam classic 3

B can classic 2.95

Sounds: Carols, pop, classic.

Visual: Trees, family, candles.

Smells: Orange (A), pine (B), cinnamon (C).