Implicit olfactory abilities in traumatic brain injured patients.
To investigate implicit olfactory abilities in a group of anosmic traumatic brain injured (TBI) patients, an olfactomotor priming paradigm was administered. A group of matched normosmic/mildly microsmic TBI patients and a group of neurologically healthy participants served as controls. For all the groups, an interference effect was evident on the peak velocity of grip aperture when participants grasped a large target preceded by a "small" odor. The present results suggest that some form of implicit olfactory processing is preserved in TBI patients even when diagnosed as anosmic on the basis of explicit olfactory testing.
Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy. valentina.parma@unipd.it
Valentina
V
Parma
Elisa
E
Straulino
Debora
D
Zanatto
Anna
A
Cantagallo
Roberto
R
Tirindelli
Umberto
U
Castiello
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D056228:Feedback, Sensory / Q000502:physiology*; D018737:Hand Strength / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D000857:Olfaction Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D055696:Olfactory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D012720:Severity of Illness Index