Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Industrial Odors With Human Observers*

Berglund, Birgitta

doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1974.tb49842.x

Cited by 52 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…A probable reason for this is the occurrence of blending, or synthesis, between a number of the stimuli. This suggestion is compatible with Berglund's (1974) proposal that additive processes dominate odor perception in one to three component mixtures and interactive processes dominate when four or more odors are present. However, because ofthe consistent ability ofthe subjects to discriminate three to four odors in four-to eight-component stimuli, the present results imply that additive and interactive processes may coexist in mixtures offour or more odors.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

“…This is contrasted with analytic or dissociative processing, which occurs when the individual components ofa mixture stand out and can be separately identified (see, e.g., Berglund, 1974;Erickson, 1982;Westbrook & Charnock, 1985). The ability to discriminate three to four components in mixtures, be they single chemicals or complex object odors, indicates dissociative processing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The influence of chemical complexity on the perception of multicomponent odor mixtures

Livermore

Laing

1998

Perception & Psychophysics

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The present study investigates the hypothesis that complex object odors (odors that emanate from flowers, foods, sewage, etc.) that consist of dozens of odorants are processed and encoded as discrete entities, as if each was a single chemical odor. To test this hypothesis, the capacity of trained subjects to discriminate and identify the components of stimuli consisting of one to eight object odors was determined. The results indicated that subjects could only identify up to four object odors in a mixture, which is similar to earlier findings with mixtures that contained only single chemical odors. The limited capacity was also reflected in the number of odors selected, regardless of whether the choices were correct or incorrect, in confidence ratings, and in decision times. The identification of a limited number of object odors in every mixture that was presented suggests that both associative (synthetic) and dissociative (analytic) processes are involved in the perceptual analysis of odor mixtures.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of chemical complexity on the perception of multicomponent odor mixtures

Livermore

Laing

1998

Perception & Psychophysics

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“…We speculate that systematic variation in slope arises from the diversity of olfactory receptors stimulated by even a single VOC. The perception of mixtures offers potential insight here [42,43]; the more complex a mixture, the more compression, or mutual suppression of components, will it exhibit [44,45], presumably because more complex mixtures stimulate wider varieties of receptors. The outputs from different receptor neurons most likely exhibit mutual inhibition upstream [46,47].…”

Section: Slopes Of Psychometric Functions: An Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemesthesis from volatile organic compounds: Psychophysical and neural responses

Cain

Lee

Wise

et al. 2006

Physiology & Behavior

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In Experiment 1, subjects sought to localize the nostril stimulated, left or right, in tests with nine esters (acetates, propionates, and butyrates) at concentrations meant to trigger chemesthesis (pungency, irritation). The task produced psychometric functions for chemesthetic detection unconfounded by olfactory sensations. The functions indicated a sharp transition from no detection to perfect detection, rather uniform across the esters, which themselves varied in potency by two log units. The correlation between the thresholds for the eight materials that yielded thresholds and predictions from a published linear free energy relationship (LFER) equaled 0.99. In Experiment 2, amplitude of the negative mucosal potential (NMP) was recorded from the septum. The resulting functions also increased with concentration sharply. Against a criterion amplitude of the NMP, thresholds measured in the first experiment (and predictions from the LFER) correlated 0.99. The NMP seems to offer an adequate objective measure of sensory irritation. The LFER, although effective predictively, could stand to have a parameter to anticipate that molecules beyond a certain size fail to trigger irritation. In the present case, a cut-off of chemesthetic potency occurred between butyl butyrate and hexyl butyrate for the group of subjects, with some variation of the boundary among individuals.

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“…Future studies can address the specific contribution ofthese separate processes to the overall loss of odor perception in real-world environments. In addition, because real-world odor experience is rarely limited to the perception of a single odor (Berglund, 1974;Berglund & Engen, 1993), future studies should examine longterm adaptation to mixtures.…”

Section: Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The nature and duration of adaptation following long-term odor exposure

Dalton

Wysocki

1996

Perception & Psychophysics

145

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Any individual living or working in an odorous environment can experience changes in odor perception, some of which are long lasting. Often, these individuals report a significant reduction in the perception of an odor following long-term exposure to that odor (adaptation). Yet, most experimental analyses of olfactory adaptation use brief odorant exposures which may not typify real-world experiences. Using a procedure combining long-term odor exposure in a naturalistic setting with psychophysical tests in the laboratory, we present evidence to show that reduced odor intensity following long-term exposure is accompanied by odorant-specific shifts in threshold. Subjects were exposed continuously to one of two odorants while in their home for a period of 2 weeks. Exposure produced an odorant-specific reduction in sensitivity and perceived intensity compared with pre exposure baselines: Detection thresholds for the adapting odorant were elevated following exposure and perceived intensity ratings for weak concentrations were reduced. For most individuals, reduced sensitivity to the test odorant was still evident up to 2 weeks following the last exposure. The persistence of the change, as evidenced by the duration of recovery from adaptation, distinguishes this phenomenon from the adaptation seen following shorter exposures and highlights the need for the study of exposure durations that are more similar to real-world exposures.The decrease in responsiveness that occurs following continuous stimulation (adaptation) is a feature common to all sensory systems, including olfaction, In situations where information is provided by dynamic sources of sensory input, unvarying stimuli often cease to be detected or perceived at the original intensity.

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Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Industrial Odors With Human Observers*

Cited by 52 publications

References 15 publications

The influence of chemical complexity on the perception of multicomponent odor mixtures

The influence of chemical complexity on the perception of multicomponent odor mixtures

Chemesthesis from volatile organic compounds: Psychophysical and neural responses

The nature and duration of adaptation following long-term odor exposure

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