title: Stress lowers the detection threshold for foul-smelling 2-mercaptoethanol.
abstract: Previous studies have reported enhanced vigilance for threat-related information in response to acute stress. While it is known that acute stress modulates sensory systems in humans, its impact on olfaction and the olfactory detection of potential threats is less clear. Two psychophysical experiments examined, if acute stress lowers the detection threshold for foul-smelling 2-mercaptoethanol. Participants in Experiment 1 (N = 30) and Experiment 2 (N = 32) were randomly allocated to a control group or a stress group. Participants in the stress group underwent a purely psychosocial stressor (public mental arithmetic) in Experiment 1 and a stressor that combined a physically demanding task with social-evaluative threat in Experiment 2 (socially evaluated cold-pressor test). In both experiments, olfactory detection thresholds were repeatedly assessed by means of dynamic dilution olfactometry. Each threshold measurement consisted of three trials conducted using an ascending method of limits. Participants in the stress groups showed the expected changes in heart rate, salivary cortisol, and mood measures in response to stress. About 20 min after the stressor, participants in the stress groups could detect 2-mercaptoethanol at a lower concentration than participants in the corresponding control groups. Our results show that acute stress lowers the detection threshold for a malodor.
authors.affiliation: a Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors at the TU Dortmund University , Dortmund , Germany and.
authors.forename: Marlene
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pacharra
authors.affiliation: a Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors at the TU Dortmund University , Dortmund , Germany and.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schäper
authors.affiliation: a Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors at the TU Dortmund University , Dortmund , Germany and.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kleinbeck
authors.affiliation: a Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors at the TU Dortmund University , Dortmund , Germany and.
authors.forename: Meinolf
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Blaszkewicz
authors.affiliation: b Department of Cognitive Psychology , Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum , Bochum , Germany.
authors.forename: Oliver T
authors.initials: OT
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.affiliation: a Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors at the TU Dortmund University , Dortmund , Germany and.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: van Thriel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008623:Mercaptoethanol; D011897:Random Allocation; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry; D012684:Sensory Thresholds; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D008623:Mercaptoethanol; D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: Cortisol; adapted Trier Social Stress Test for Groups; olfaction; psychophysics; sensory hypervigilance; socially evaluated cold-pressor test