Pleasant aromas on the job apparently make workers more alert and more productive, research by several scientists indicates.

Although the results are preliminary, the link between pleasant smells and improved work performance appears real enough to cause some architects to include fragrances in their design plans for future office settings.

Reporting at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting Tuesday, researchers said that getting regular whiffs of peppermint or a flowery scent improved the performance of volunteers who did a repetitive tedious task.

The task, which involved watching a computer screen for infrequent and subtle changes of a pattern displayed on the screen, was intended to simulate jobs like air traffic control, over-the-road trucking and intensive care nursing that require continued high levels of concentration and alertness.

William Dember, a University of Cincinnati psychologist, reported that during such tasks volunteers improved their performance by as much as 15 percent when compared to others who didn`t receive periodic fragrance bursts. Raja Parasuraman, a researcher at the Catholic University of America in Washington, reported that instruments that measure the brain`s electrical activity found that increased mental arousal was associated with fragrance stimulation, which may explain the improved job performance.

Fragrance was also seen as improving performance in less demanding tasks, such as clerical coding, negotiations and resolving interpersonal conflicts, reported Robert Baron, chairman of managerial policy and organization at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.

Baron`s studies found that workers exposed to pleasant aromas tended to set higher goals for themselves and made more concessions during simulated negotiations than did people who weren`t given any special aromas to smell.

Although the differences Baron found were small, they were consistent and statistically significant, he said.

''I`m working now with people at our architectural school on designing an office of the future that would give a person individual control of his own climate,'' said Baron. ''A person could set the temperature, lighting and fragrance he desired for his own work space.''

The Japanese also are building climate-control systems that regulate the fragrance in an office or factory, Parasuraman said, although the effects of such commercial systems haven`t yet been reliably tested.

The researchers, whose work was funded by the Fragrance Research Fund, an arm of the perfume industry, said many questions remain unanswered.

Most work so far has centered on scents people consider pleasant.

It may be that unpleasant odors also stimuate alertness, Dember said, but it is more difficult to recruit volunteers for studies that use unpleasant odors.

Also, Baron said that an elevated mood on the job may not always be a good thing.

''If you have someone who is feeling a little better than usual, he may be more inclined to take risks,'' said Baron.

''That may not be a good thing, if he`s working as a loan officer for a bank.''

The researchers said it is too soon to suggest that bosses start bringing in loads of flowers or boxes of air freshener in hopes of boosting productivity.

Dember noted that in some of his studies women appeared more sensitive to fragrances than men. Other research suggests that among infants, girls respond more readily to aromas than boys do.

''This is a field we are just starting to explore,'' Dember said. ''We have a lot more work to do before we can start telling people what kind of fragrances they should put in their offices.''