Effect of Aging on Hedonic Appreciation of Pleasant and Unpleasant Odors

Joussain, Pauline; Thévenet, M; Rouby, Catherine; Bensafi, Moustafa

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0061376

Cited by 51 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 53 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…And indeed it actually is the case, since we showed that the relationship between pleasantness and sniffing behavior was conserved during normal aging (Experiment 4), even though the magnitude of the effect appeared, but not significantly, to be reduced. This is consistent with a recent study comparing young and old adults, in which sniffs were larger and longer for pleasant vs. unpleasant odors, independently of age (Joussain et al, 2013 ), and with studies in other modalities (e.g., face perception) showing that adaptive threat detection is unimpaired in older adults (Mather and Knight, 2006 ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…For edibility, the weakness of the link can be explained by the fact that whether an odor comes from an edible source is not the sole criterion for determining whether it is relevant to the individual and for letting it reach the nasal mucosa without restriction (e.g., social odors are highly relevant despite being non-edible; Lundström et al, 2008 ). Edibility was more influential in the elderly than in younger adults, suggesting that this olfactory property may be processed differently in old age (as is hedonicity, for example: Joussain et al, 2013 ). For familiarity, a stronger link with sniffing was expected.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Viewing Olfactory Affective Responses Through the Sniff Prism: Effect of Perceptual Dimensions and Age on Olfactomotor Responses to Odors

et al. 2015

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sniffing, which is the active sampling of olfactory information through the nasal cavity, is part of the olfactory percept. It is influenced by stimulus properties, affects how an odor is perceived, and is sufficient (without an odor being present) to activate the olfactory cortex. However, many aspects of the affective correlates of sniffing behavior remain unclear, in particular the modulation of volume and duration as a function of odor hedonics. The present study used a wide range of odorants with contrasted hedonic valence to test: (1) which psychophysical function best describes the relationship between sniffing characteristics and odor hedonics (e.g., linear, or polynomial); (2) whether sniffing characteristics are sensitive to more subtle variations in pleasantness than simple pleasant-unpleasant contrast; (3) how sensitive sniffing is to other perceptual dimensions of odors such as odor familiarity or edibility; and (4) whether the sniffing/hedonic valence relationship is valid in other populations than young adults, such as the elderly. Four experiments were conducted, using 16–48 odorants each, and recruiting a total of 102 participants, including a group of elderly people. Results of the four experiments were very consistent in showing that sniffing was sensitive to subtle variations in unpleasantness but not to subtle variations in pleasantness, and that, the more unpleasant the odor, the more limited the spontaneous sampling of olfactory information through the nasal cavity (smaller volume, shorter duration). This also applied, although to a lesser extent, to elderly participants. Relationships between sniffing and other perceptual dimensions (familiarity, edibility) were less clear. It was concluded that sniffing behavior might be involved in adaptive responses protecting the subject from possibly harmful substances.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Viewing Olfactory Affective Responses Through the Sniff Prism: Effect of Perceptual Dimensions and Age on Olfactomotor Responses to Odors

et al. 2015

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The general aim of the present study was to characterize olfactory function in ASD children at both the cognitive (odor familiarity and odor identification ability: objective 1 ) and sensorimotor and hedonic levels ( objective 2 ), by considering the positive and negative hedonic value of smells. To this end, a pleasant and an unpleasant odor (at various concentrations) selected from a previous study ( Joussain et al, 2013 ) were presented to ASD children and controls. The odors were embedded in a series of 16 stimuli including a non-odorized stimulus and odorant compounds that included both mixtures of molecules and their individual components.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Odor Perception in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and its Relationship to Food Neophobia

et al. 2015

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Atypical sensory functioning in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has been well documented in the last decade for the visual, tactile and auditory systems, but olfaction in ASD is still understudied. The aim of the present study was to examine whether children with ASD and neuro-typically (NT) developed children differed in odor perception, at the cognitive (familiarity and identification ability), sensorimotor (olfactory exploration) and affective levels (hedonic evaluation). Because an important function of the sense of smell is its involvement in eating, from food selection to appreciation and recognition, a potential link between odor perception and food neophobia was also investigated. To these ends, 10 children between 6 and 13 years old diagnosed with ASD and 10 NT control children were tested. To compare performance, 16 stimuli were used and food neophobia was assessed by the parents on a short food neophobia scale. Results revealed that (i) significant hedonic discrimination between attractive and aversive odors was observed in NT (p = 0.005; d = 2.378) and ASD children (p = 0.042; d = 0.941), and (ii) hedonic discrimination level was negatively correlated with food neophobia scores in ASD (p = 0.007) but not NT children. In conclusion, this study offers new insights into odor perception in ASD children, highlighting a relationship between odor hedonic reactivity and eating behavior. This opens up new perspectives on both (i) the role of olfaction in the construction of eating behavior in ASD children, and (ii) the measurement and meaning of food neophobia in this population.

show abstract

“…Olfactory psychophysical tasks most commonly measured in studies of olfaction in aging include odor identification, odor memory, odor discrimination and odor threshold sensitivity tasks [ 57 – 59 ]. Other methods which have been employed for clinical assessment of olfaction include surveys of subjective rating of olfactory ability and quality of life [ 60 ] and assessments of odor familiarity [ 61 ] and hedonics [ 62 ].…”

Section: Psychophysical Tasks Of Olfactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Apo E4 Alleles and Impaired Olfaction as Predictors of Alzheimer’s Disease

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia that affects more than 5 million Americans. It is the only disease among the 10 causes of death that cannot be slowed or cured, thus raising the need for identification of early preclinical markers that could be the focus of preventative efforts. Although evidence is escalating that abnormalities in olfactory structure and function precede AD development and early cognitive impairments by one or more decades, the importance of olfaction is largely overlooked in AD, and such testing is not routinely performed in neurology clinics. Nevertheless, research using the olfactory model, has begun to advance our understanding of the preclinical pathophysiology of AD. Notably, an interesting series of studies is beginning to illuminate the relationship between Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) ε4 polymorphism and olfactory dysfunction and late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. In this article, we reviewed present research on the significance of ApoE and olfaction to AD, summarized current studies on the associations and mechanisms of ApoE and olfactory dysfunction, and highlighted important gaps for future work to further advance the translational application of the olfactory paradigm to early, preclinical diagnosis and treatment of AD.

show abstract

Effect of Aging on Hedonic Appreciation of Pleasant and Unpleasant Odors

Cited by 51 publications

References 53 publications

Viewing Olfactory Affective Responses Through the Sniff Prism: Effect of Perceptual Dimensions and Age on Olfactomotor Responses to Odors

Viewing Olfactory Affective Responses Through the Sniff Prism: Effect of Perceptual Dimensions and Age on Olfactomotor Responses to Odors

Odor Perception in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and its Relationship to Food Neophobia

Apo E4 Alleles and Impaired Olfaction as Predictors of Alzheimer’s Disease

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About