title: Viewing Olfactory Affective Responses Through the Sniff Prism: Effect of Perceptual Dimensions and Age on Olfactomotor Responses to Odors.
abstract: Sniffing, which is the active sampling of olfactory information through the nasal cavity, is part of the olfactory percept. It is influenced by stimulus properties, affects how an odor is perceived, and is sufficient (without an odor being present) to activate the olfactory cortex. However, many aspects of the affective correlates of sniffing behavior remain unclear, in particular the modulation of volume and duration as a function of odor hedonics. The present study used a wide range of odorants with contrasted hedonic valence to test: (1) which psychophysical function best describes the relationship between sniffing characteristics and odor hedonics (e.g., linear, or polynomial); (2) whether sniffing characteristics are sensitive to more subtle variations in pleasantness than simple pleasant-unpleasant contrast; (3) how sensitive sniffing is to other perceptual dimensions of odors such as odor familiarity or edibility; and (4) whether the sniffing/hedonic valence relationship is valid in other populations than young adults, such as the elderly. Four experiments were conducted, using 16-48 odorants each, and recruiting a total of 102 participants, including a group of elderly people. Results of the four experiments were very consistent in showing that sniffing was sensitive to subtle variations in unpleasantness but not to subtle variations in pleasantness, and that, the more unpleasant the odor, the more limited the spontaneous sampling of olfactory information through the nasal cavity (smaller volume, shorter duration). This also applied, although to a lesser extent, to elderly participants. Relationships between sniffing and other perceptual dimensions (familiarity, edibility) were less clear. It was concluded that sniffing behavior might be involved in adaptive responses protecting the subject from possibly harmful substances.
authors.affiliation: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR5292, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U1028, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Camille
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ferdenzi
authors.affiliation: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR5292, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U1028, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Arnaud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fournel
authors.affiliation: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR5292, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U1028, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thévenet
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Géraldine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Coppin
authors.affiliation: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR5292, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U1028, Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Moustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bensafi
keywords: affect; aging; hedonics; motor response; olfaction