The Scented Brain

Sobel, Noam; Brown, Windy M.

doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(01)00406-8

Cited by 21 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…We attributed this apparent paradox to the facts that odors are poorly localized in space, and are far separated in time, and this combination renders odors a poor substrate for selective attention. Reduced applicability of selective attention may combine with a theorized inhibitory mechanism (Sobel and Brown 2001) and additional factors (Stevenson 2009b) to jointly limit the place of odors in awareness. Critically, when human spatial and temporal processing of vision and audition are damaged by lesions such that they are then comparable to the spatial and temporal aspects of intact human olfaction, these lesions are accompanied by a loss of awareness (Deouell et al 2000; Deouell 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human olfaction: a constant state of change-blindness

2010

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Paradoxically, although humans have a superb sense of smell, they don’t trust their nose. Furthermore, although human odorant detection thresholds are very low, only unusually high odorant concentrations spontaneously shift our attention to olfaction. Here we suggest that this lack of olfactory awareness reflects the nature of olfactory attention that is shaped by the spatial and temporal envelopes of olfaction. Regarding the spatial envelope, selective attention is allocated in space. Humans direct an attentional spotlight within spatial coordinates in both vision and audition. Human olfactory spatial abilities are minimal. Thus, with no olfactory space, there is no arena for olfactory selective attention. Regarding the temporal envelope, whereas vision and audition consist of nearly continuous input, olfactory input is discreet, made of sniffs widely separated in time. If similar temporal breaks are artificially introduced to vision and audition, they induce “change blindness”, a loss of attentional capture that results in a lack of awareness to change. Whereas “change blindness” is an aberration of vision and audition, the long inter-sniff-interval renders “change anosmia” the norm in human olfaction. Therefore, attentional capture in olfaction is minimal, as is human olfactory awareness. All this, however, does not diminish the role of olfaction through sub-attentive mechanisms allowing subliminal smells a profound influence on human behavior and perception.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human olfaction: a constant state of change-blindness

2010

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“…Another field of olfactory EEG research is linked to the qualitative difference of the odours: for example, pure odourant (e.g., Phenethyl alcohol) [39], chemical stimuli that elicit trigeminal responses (e.g., menthol and CO 2 ) [40][41][42][43][44], social odour (e.g., body odour) [45,46], putative pheromones (e.g., 5α-Androst-16-en-3α-ol and Estradiol) [47][48][49], or odourless volatilized chemical compounds (e.g., Vaseline oil, air, and water) [23,50]. Odorless chemical compounds are used as control stimulations, sham stimulations, or substances that allow the dilution of odourants.…”

Section: Introduction To Electrophysiological Techniques and Chemicalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this case, the body odour cannot be "quantified" in a precisely replicable measure, because it is unique and related to the experimental condition. We speak instead of putative pheromone when the chemical substance related to the social odour is quantified precisely in its dosage and in its chemical composition (e.g., 5α-Androst-16-en-3α-ol and Estradiol) [47,49].…”

Section: Introduction To Electrophysiological Techniques and Chemicalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemosensory Perception: A Review on Electrophysiological Methods in “Cognitive Neuro-Olfactometry”

Invitto

Grasso

2019

Chemosensors

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Various brain imaging techniques are available, but few are specifically designed to visualize chemical sensory and, in particular, olfactory processing. This review describes the results of quantitative and qualitative studies that have used electroencephalography (EEG) and magneto-encephalography (MEG) to evaluate responses to olfactory stimulation (OS). EEG and MEG are able to detect the components of chemosensory event-related potentials (CSERPs) and the cortical rhythms associated with different types of OS. Olfactory studies are filling the gaps in both the developmental field of the life cycle (from newborns to geriatric age) and the clinical and basic research fields, in a way that can be considered the modern “cognitive neuro-olfactometry”.

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“…8, 9 Effects of exogenous administration of these compounds have been reported for hypothalamus activation, 10, 11, 12 ratings of (own) mood 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and (other's) attractiveness, 19, 20, 21 and physiological measures, 13, 15, 22, 23 sometimes in a sex-specific manner. 12, 16, 19, 21, 22, 24 A component of male sweat has also been shown to affect cycle timing and mood in women. 25 To show that humans communicate via pheromones in a similar way to other mammals, however, requires an effect on social and reproductive behavior.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A missense polymorphism in the putative pheromone receptor gene VN1R1 is associated with sociosexual behavior

et al. 2017

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Pheromones regulate social and reproductive behavior in most mammalian species. These effects are mediated by the vomeronasal and main olfactory systems. Effects of putative pheromones on human neuroendocrine activity, brain activity and attractiveness ratings suggest that humans may communicate via similar chemosignaling. Here we studied two samples of younger and older individuals, respectively, with respect to one nonsynonymous polymorphism in the gene encoding the human vomeronasal type-1 receptor 1, VN1R1, and one nonsynonymous polymorphism in the gene encoding the olfactory receptor OR7D4. Participants in both samples had self-reported their sociosexual behavior using the sociosexual orientation inventory, including questions regarding lifetime number of one-night stands, number of partners last year and expected number of partners the coming 5 years. In women, there was a significant association between the VN1R1 polymorphism and sociosexual behavior in both samples, driven specifically by the question regarding one-night stands. Our results support the hypothesis that human social interaction is modulated by communication via chemosignaling.

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The Scented Brain

Cited by 21 publications

References 14 publications

Human olfaction: a constant state of change-blindness

Human olfaction: a constant state of change-blindness

Chemosensory Perception: A Review on Electrophysiological Methods in “Cognitive Neuro-Olfactometry”

A missense polymorphism in the putative pheromone receptor gene VN1R1 is associated with sociosexual behavior

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