Abstracts - Association for Chemoreception Sciences

3.3 mm) placed at the olfactory cleft under endoscopic guidance.
Participants did not require topical anaesthetics or decongestants
and sniffed naturally (n=35; 21 female, 32±7 years of age).
An additional cannula fitted at the nostrils was connected to
a pressure transducer to record inspiratory nasal pressure and
breathing cycles throughout odorant presentation. Following a
protocol similar to that which is used during clinical assessments,
n-butanol was presented in a triad of Sniffin’ Sticks pens, 1
odorant target pen and 2 ‘odorless’ blanks. Participants were
asked to identify the odorant-containing target pen in each of six
triads with increasing n-butanol concentrations (0.125, 0.25, 0.5,
2, 4, and 8 %). The entire protocol only required approximately
15 minutes to perform. All participants were fully compliant and
reported only minimal discomfort. The catheter and cannula did
not disrupt normal breathing patterns. This protocol allowed us
to quickly and effectively measure odorant concentrations at the
olfactory cleft in real time. Comparing the known concentration
of the stimulus odorant and the concentration found at the
olfactory cleft will elucidate how to best adjust and develop
measures designed to determine an individual’s threshold
sensitivity. Acknowledgements: This work was supported in part
by The National Social Life, Health and Aging Project Wave 2
(R37 AG030481), and is affiliated with the Neurotrition Project,
supported by the FAU Emerging Fields Initiative. DWK is
supported by The Center on Aging Specialized Training Program
in the Demography and Economics of Aging (National Institute
on Aging (T32000243). TH received funding from the DFG
(HU 441/10-1).
#P140 POSTER SESSION III:
TRIGEMINAL; HUMAN OLFACTORY
PSYCHOPHYSICS; TASTE PERIPHERY
Quantitative classification of the perceived intensity curve
of a continuously presented odor
Tatsu Kobayakawa 1 , Tomoko Matsubasa 2 , Naomi Gotow 1
1
The National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
(AIST) Ibaraki Tsukuba, Japan, 2 Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd Tokyo, Japan
Researchers of olfaction have devoted significant effort to
understanding the phenomenon of adaptation. Previous
studies of olfactory adaptation have reported, in general, that
perceived intensity of a continuously presented odor decreases
exponentially over time. More recently, however, other studies
have shown that perceived intensity of continuous odor does
not always decrease exponentially. Some studies focused on the
various time-course of perceived intensity of a continuously
presented odor, whereas few studies have tried to classify
time-course patterns quantitatively. In this study, we performed
real-time evaluation of perceived intensity of a continuously
presented odor for 480 seconds using nine odorants, and
quantitatively classified the perceived intensity curves using the
time points for 20-80% of time integral of perceived intensity.
This analysis revealed that intensity curves could be classified
into two clusters: one group (“typical”) exhibited the commonly
observed exponential decrease in perceived intensity; the other
group (“non-typical”) included a range of time courses rather
than strict exponential decrease. The average intensity of
“typical” group decreased below threshold three minutes after
beginning of odor exposure, and that of “non-typical” group,
on the other hand, did not decrease under threshold during total
measuring time.
#P141 POSTER SESSION III:
TRIGEMINAL; HUMAN OLFACTORY
PSYCHOPHYSICS; TASTE PERIPHERY
Effects of Peppermint Scent Administration on Augmenting
Cognitive and Creative Performance
Lucas Lemasters, August Capiola, Bryan Raudenbush, Sierra Moore
Wheeling Jesuit University Wheeling, WV, USA
Level of creativity has been assessed in a number of ways,
including interactions between body and environment on creative
thinking. Environmental richness has been shown to interact
with creativity, with greater levels of environmental richness
leading to more creative responses. The present study attempted
to determine if peppermint scent administration could promote
creativity, since past research with peppermint scent reports
improved performance on clerical tests, thus hinting at the
possibility for cognitive enhancement. Participants completed
the Torrance® Tests of Creative Thinking, a standardized test
measuring creative thinking abilities, in both a non-scented
condition (control) and a peppermint scented condition.
Different versions of the test, as well as the conditions, were
counterbalanced. The data were subjected to paired samples
t-tests, with condition (peppermint, control) serving as the
independent measure and raw scores of fluency, originality,
elaboration, abstractness-of-titles, and resistance-to-prematureclosure
serving as dependant measures. There was a significant
difference between the conditions for fluency [t(33)=-2.41,
p=.02], originality [t(33)=-2.13, p=.04], and elaboration
[t(33)=-7.38, p=.00], with all measures having higher scores
for the peppermint scent condition. Implications suggest
working conditions for those individuals with occupations that
require creative thinking and problem solving may benefit from
peppermint scented working conditions.
#P142 POSTER SESSION III:
TRIGEMINAL; HUMAN OLFACTORY
PSYCHOPHYSICS; TASTE PERIPHERY
Contextual effects on hedonic evaluation of odors
Shiori Nakano, Saho Ayabe-Kanamura
Univ. of Tsukuba Tsukuba, Japan
When we sequentially evaluate a character of sensory modality
stimuli, evaluation of the stimuli might be influenced by what
precedes them; contextual effects. Hedonic contrast, is one of
these phenomenon, when a stimulus is preceded by a more
pleasant stimulus, its pleasantness is rated lower (negative
contrast), whereas when a stimulus is preceded by a less pleasant
stimulus, its pleasantness is rated higher (positive contrast).
POSTER PRESENTATIONS
Abstracts are printed as submitted by the author(s).
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