Abstracts - Association for Chemoreception Sciences

P O S T E R S
#P116 POSTER SESSION III: OLFACTORY
PERCEPTION, HUMAN PSYCHOPHYSICS &
ANIMAL BEHAVIOR; PERIPHERAL TASTE
DEVELOPMENT & SIGNALING
Behavioral characteristics when smelling odors and making
selections
Shiori Nakano, Saho Ayabe-Kanamura
University of Tsukuba Graduate School of Comprehensive
Human Sciences Tsukuba, Japan
When people smell several odors, how do they decide which one
they prefer? For vision study, participants were shown pairs of
human faces and required to decide which face was more
attractive. Their gaze gradually shifted toward the face that they
eventually chose a few seconds before making the choice. Are
there any behavioral characteristics of making selection in
olfaction as well? In our study, participants freely smelled seven
odors (e.g., grapefruit or wash soap) in squeeze bottles and chose
one odor which they liked the most among them. When the odor
names were not shown, participants could smell the same odor
repeatedly and there was no time limit for the selection. This
situation was recorded and the duration time smelling an odor
measured. As results, three behavior patterns on the choice of the
most favorite odor were observed; ‘Swift decision type’ that made
a decision immediately after smelling every odor just once, ‘Stable
position type’ that chose an odor in fixed sequences without
changing the bottles position, and ‘Grouping type’ that grouped
odors according to preference before making a decision. Most of
the participants in the later two types occasionally smelled the
same odor again. Smelling duration time was converted into the
standardization score for each participant. The average score for
the odor finally chosen was higher than the odors not chosen
(using a mean score for six odors), but the difference was not
significant (t(27)=0.91, p=0.37). Especially, participants in
‘Grouping type’ smelled longer the preferable odor than in the
other two behavior patterns. As a consequence, the odor which
they liked most was smelled for a slightly longer time.
Conversely, it might be possible that people make selection of the
odor when it was smelled longer.
#P117 POSTER SESSION III: OLFACTORY
PERCEPTION, HUMAN PSYCHOPHYSICS &
ANIMAL BEHAVIOR; PERIPHERAL TASTE
DEVELOPMENT & SIGNALING
Odor Interactions among Ternary Mixtures by Human
Toshio Miyazawa 1,2 , Michelle Gallagher 2 , George Preti 2,3 ,
Shuichi Muranishi 1 , Paul M. Wise 2
1
Ogawa & Co., Ltd. Chiba, Japan, 2 Monell Chemical Senses
Center Philadelphia, PA, USA, 3 University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA, USA
Mixture-interactions are a first-order concern in olfaction. At
peri-threshold levels, people can often detect a mixture even if
they cannot detect any of the individual mixture components
when presented alone. The exact rules of this summation remain
unclear. We have measured detection of both single chemicals and
binary (two-component) mixtures over a range of concentrations.
Significant deviations from additivity occur, and depend on both
stimulus concentration and molecular properties. However, a
simple response addition model describes peri-threshold mixture
interactions reasonably well. Here, we extend this work to ternary
(three-component) mixtures. We measured detection functions for
four homologous carboxylic acids (acetic, butyric, hexanoic,
octanoic), and for maple lactone, which is different from the acids
in both structure and supra-threshold quality. We also measured
detection functions for three ternary mixtures: 1) acetic + butyric
+ hexanoic (greatest overall similarity), 2) acetic + butyric +
octanoic, and 3) acetic + butyric + maple lactone (least overall
similarity). Analysis of variance showed that mixtures 1 and 3 (the
most and least similar) showed approximately additive
interactions across the full range of measured concentrations,
whereas mixture 2 showed substantial sub-additivity across
concentrations. These data suggest that a tendency toward perithreshold
additivity may continue as mixtures become more
complex, but that the degree of additivity will depend on the
molecules that comprise the mixture. Structure-activity models
will require further research.
#P118 POSTER SESSION III: OLFACTORY
PERCEPTION, HUMAN PSYCHOPHYSICS &
ANIMAL BEHAVIOR; PERIPHERAL TASTE
DEVELOPMENT & SIGNALING
The Monell Odor Identification Task for the NIH Toolbox:
Comparing Response Alternatives for 3 and 4 Year Olds
Christopher Maute, Aleida Silva-Garcia, Sara Castor, Julie A.
Mennella, Pamela H. Dalton
Monell Chemical Senses Center Philadelphia, PA, USA
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Toolbox aims to develop
a brief, inexpensive test to assess olfactory function in individuals
between the ages of 3 and 85 years old. Here we provide an
update on the evaluation of the youngest cohort of subjects (50,
3-4 year olds) with whom we explored the effects of the number
of response choices on odor identification performance. Children
and a parent were tested individually at the Monell Center. After
familiarization with the study procedures, they were presented
with 8 odorants in a scratch-and-sniff format in 3 versions. After
smelling each odorant, the subject was asked to identify the odor
by pointing to the matching image from either 2, 3 or 4 choices.
All subjects were administered the 3 versions of the task in a
single session and each version was completed in less than 5
minutes. While we saw an inverse relation between the response
options and probability correct, this relationship is driven by the
results of individual odor items within each task such that some
odors are better for inclusion on a child-specific task than others.
It was further noticed that some images used to represent the
target odors were difficult to identify for three-year-olds. When
performance above chance was considered, the difference between
performance on the 3 and 4 alternative forced choice (AFC) tasks
diminished and certain variables, like pre-school attendance,
increased accuracy, particularly on the 4 AFC task. In conclusion,
three- and four-year-old children can quickly and reliably
perform all versions of this task, with each task having its own
advantages and disadvantages. The removal of less effective odors,
adjustment of odor images and further consideration of variables
like pre-school attendance will yield a best-fit of task to
population. Acknowledgements: NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience
Research, NIH contract No.: HHS-N-260-2006-00007-C.
66 | AChemS Abstracts 2010 Abstracts are printed as submitted by the author(s)