title: An odor identification approach based on event-related pupil dilation and gaze focus.
abstract: Olfactory disorders constitute a potential marker of many diseases and are considered valuable clues to the diagnosis and evaluation of progression for many disorders. The most commonly used test for the evaluation of impairments of olfactory identification requires the active participation of the subject, who must select the correct name of the perceived odor from a list. An alternative method is required because speech may be impaired or not yet learned in many patients. As odor identification is known to be facilitated by searching for visual clues, we aimed to develop an objective, vision-based approach for the evaluation of odor identification. We used an eye tracking method to quantify pupillary and ocular responses during the simultaneous presentation of olfactory and visual stimuli, in 39 healthy participants aged from 19 to 77years. Odor presentation triggered an increase in pupil dilation and gaze focus on the picture corresponding to the odor presented. These results suggest that odorant stimuli increase recruitment of the sympathetic system (as demonstrated by the reactivity of the pupil) and draw attention to the visual clue. These results validate the objectivity of this method.
authors.affiliation: Team 1 "Autism," UMR INSERM U 930, Université François Rabelais de Tours, Tours, France. Electronic address: nadia.aguillon@univ-tours.fr.
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aguillon-Hernandez
authors.affiliation: Team 4 "Affective Disorders," UMR INSERM U 930, Université François Rabelais de Tours, Tours, France.
authors.forename: Marine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Naudin
authors.affiliation: Team 1 "Autism," UMR INSERM U 930, Université François Rabelais de Tours, Tours, France.
authors.forename: Laëtitia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Roché
authors.affiliation: Team 1 "Autism," UMR INSERM U 930, Université François Rabelais de Tours, Tours, France; CHRU de Tours, Centre Universitaire de Pédopsychiatrie, France.
authors.forename: Frédérique
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bonnet-Brilhault
authors.affiliation: Team 4 "Affective Disorders," UMR INSERM U 930, Université François Rabelais de Tours, Tours, France.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Belzung
authors.affiliation: Team 1 "Autism," UMR INSERM U 930, Université François Rabelais de Tours, Tours, France.
authors.forename: Joëlle
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martineau
authors.affiliation: Team 4 "Affective Disorders," UMR INSERM U 930, Université François Rabelais de Tours, Tours, France.
authors.forename: Boriana
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Atanasova
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009812:Odorants; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011680:Pupil / Q000502:physiology*; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Event-related pupil dilation; Eye tracking; Gaze focus; Odor identification; Olfaction; Pupillary response; Visual attention