Null cross-modal effects of olfactory training on visual, auditory or olfactory working memory in 6- to 9-year-old children.

Systematic exposure to odours (olfactory training, OT) is a method of smell loss treatment. Due to olfactory system projections to prefrontal brain areas, OT has been hypothesized to enhance cognitive functions, but its effects have been studied predominantly in adults. This study tested OT effects on working memory (WM), i.

A Nationwide survey of safety protocols and chemosensory assessments by Japanese clinicians pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: There has been an increase of attention and awareness of smell and taste loss due to the impact of COVID-19. However, little is known about the influence of COVID-19 on the number of psychophysical tests performed, the timing of these tests, or the protection protocols employed to protect against virus transmission. This study aimed to explore the changes in examination approaches, types of tests employed, and safety measures adopted by clinicians before and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Investigating the Interplay between Olfaction, Social Behaviour, and Individual Differences: Editorial.

Long-COVID mercilessly brought awareness to what olfaction researchers have known all along; losing your sense of smell changes your experiences with the world around you and can compromise your health and wellbeing [...

Investigating the Link between Eating Attitudes, Taste and Odour Preferences and the Chemical Senses.

Objectives: To examine if higher degrees of pathological eating attitudes in a non-clinical sample are associated with odour and taste perception and preferences based on psychophysical ratings.

Participants And Methods: A total of 80 female university students completed the eating attitudes test (EAT-26), followed by four chemosensory measures including olfactory and gustatory perception plus perceptual ratings and preferences for food odours and tastes.

Results: There were no significant correlations between EAT-26 scores and measures of olfactory and gustatory perception.

Do you often sniff yourself or others? Development of the Body Odor Sniffing Questionnaire and a cross-cultural survey in China and the USA.

Objectives: Body odor can convey much information about an individual and thus we frequently engage in sniffing one's own and other people's body odor. However, there is scarce evidence on the within- and cross-cultural variation in body odor sniffing behaviors and no psychometric scale for specifically measuring such behaviors. Hence, our study aimed to develop the Body Odor Sniffing Questionnaire (BOSQ) and used it to make a cross-cultural comparison.

Love Stinks: The Association between Body Odors and Romantic Relationship Commitment.

Anecdotal reports indicate that women dislike their partner's body odor (BO) during the breakdown of a relationship; however, whether disliking a partner's BO is associated with intentions to break up has not been empirically tested. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to investigate, for the first time, whether disliking one's partner's BOs is associated with experiencing lower commitment to a romantic relationship. Eighty participants (48 partnered, 32 single and previously partnered) completed self-report questionnaires about their current or previous romantic relationship and the amount of exposure to-and hedonic ratings of-their current or former partner's BOs.

The Link between Attachment Style and Self-Reported Olfactory Ability: A Preliminary Investigation.

Individuals in healthy romantic relationships gain significant benefits to their psychological wellbeing and physiological health. Notably, the majority of relationship research has focused on how adult attachment influences these relationship outcomes while the role of olfaction remains an emerging research focus. The aim of the current study was to bring together these seemingly unrelated factors-attachment and olfaction-in an online quasi-experimental design.

Olfactory training in 8-year-olds increases odour identification ability: a preliminary study.

Olfactory training (OT), smelling odours, twice per day for an extended period, can improve the olfactory function in adults. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether OT can improve the olfactory function of children aged 8 years old. Odour thresholds and odour identification ability were compared between two groups across three separate testing sessions (baseline, 6-week post-baseline, 12-week post-baseline).

The Aetiology of Olfactory Dysfunction and Its Relationship to Diet Quality.

People with olfactory loss may choose foods rich in sugar, salt and fat to compensate their loss-foods that constitute a Western-style diet (WSD). However, olfactory dysfunction has not been consistently linked to any particular type of dietary change. Here we considered whether the aetiology of olfactory dysfunction may affect consumption of a WSD.

Global study of variability in olfactory sensitivity.

Variability in human olfactory sensitivity has been attributed to individual-level factors such as genetics, age, sex, medical history of infections and trauma, neurogenerative diseases, and emotional disorders. Scarce evidence exists on the cross-cultural variation in olfactory sensitivity. Hence, we performed 2 studies to estimate the variability in olfactory threshold as a function of location and environment.

A New Method for Assessment of Retronasal Olfactory Function.

Objectives/hypothesis: The aim of the study was to develop a test for the assessment of retronasal olfaction in healthy participants and patients with olfactory disorders using "tasteless" powders.

Study Design: Prospective case-control series.

Methods: A total of 150 participants (110 women, 40 men, mean age = 40 ± 16 years) were recruited for this study; 100 were healthy controls and 50 were patients with olfactory loss due to infections of the upper respiratory tract (n = 25), idiopathic causes (n = 12), sinonasal disease (n = 7), and head trauma (n = 6).

The role of body odors and olfactory ability in the initiation, maintenance and breakdown of romantic relationships - A review.

The aim of this review is to present direct and indirect lines of converging evidence that highlight the many ways our body odors and sense of smell may influence the three broad stages of romantic relationships; initiation, maintenance and breakdown. This emerging area of study requires a multidisciplinary empirical approach. Here we survey research findings that taken together, suggest that body odor perception moderates mate choice, provides a source of comfort in existing relationships and may signal the breakdown of a relationship through disgust processes.

Do women love their partner's smell? Exploring women's preferences for and identification of male partner and non-partner body odor.

Despite evidence indicating body odor (BO) preference is an important driver in mate selection, previous studies have only investigated females' preferences for the BO of strangers. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to determine if partnered females prefer their partner's BO compared to that of others males' BO. Forty partnered and 42 single, heterosexual women aged 18-35 years, brought to the laboratory a shirt their partner or male friend/relative (respectively) sweated in while wearing.

Do Single Men Smell and Look Different to Partnered Men?

Previous research indicates human body odor (BO) can signal kinship, sickness and genetic compatibility. Based on research indicating single males have higher testosterone levels than partnered males and that higher testosterone levels are associated with stronger smelling BO, the current study aimed to determine if, by extension of previous findings, single males' BO smells stronger than partnered males' BO. Eighty-two heterosexual women aged 18-35 years rated the BO and faces of six different males also aged 18-35 years.

The Immediate and Delayed Effects of TV: Impacts of Gender and Processed-Food Intake History.

Eating while watching TV has generally been found to increase both immediate and delayed energy intake. Here we examine two factors - gender and habitual processed-food intake - that may moderate these effects. Participants [ = 153; 95 women, 58 men; = 19.

Exploring the Relationship between Psychopathy and Helping Behaviors in Naturalistic Settings: Preliminary Findings.

This study examined the helping behavior of participants with high (High-P; 15 males, 13 females) and low (Low-P; 14 males, 16 females) psychopathic traits without their awareness. In the first of three tests, we found Low-P participants offered more help to an apparently lost female confederate than High-P participants. In the second test, High-P compared to Low-P males offered more help to an "injured" female experimenter, the reverse was true for females.

A high-fat high-sugar diet predicts poorer hippocampal-related memory and a reduced ability to suppress wanting under satiety.

Animal data indicate that greater intake of fats and sugars prevalent in a Western diet impairs hippocampal memory and tests of behavioral inhibition known to be related to hippocampal function (e.g., feature negative discrimination tasks).

Individual differences in the interoceptive states of hunger, fullness and thirst.

Interoception is the ability to perceive internal bodily states. This involves the detection and awareness of static and changing afferent signals from the viscera, motivational states, affective reactions, and associated cognitions. We examined whether there are individual differences in any or all of these aspects of ingestion-related interoception and their possible causes.

Failure to Obtain Reinstatement of an Olfactory Representation.

It has long been suspected that attentional processes differ between olfaction and the other senses. Here, we test whether voluntary dishabituation, seen, for example, when we re-attend to the ticking of a clock, can occur in olfaction. Participants were seated in an odorized room, where at various intervals they had to evaluate what they could smell.

Why does the sense of smell vanish in the mouth? Testing predictions from two accounts.

When participants perceive flavor they do not recognise the role of smell. We examined two possible accounts of why: (1) a common attentional channel activated by taste; and (2) prior learning between taste and smell. Participants were asked to sniff food-related odors with a fluid in their mouth and profile each odor after expectorating.

Evidence that phenomenal olfactory content exceeds what can later be accessed.

Visual experience is information rich, but only a small proportion is available for later access. We tested for this distinction in olfaction. In two experiments (E1&2), participants undertook trials rating an odor's features (e.

Detecting olfactory rivalry.

Olfactory rivalry can occur when a binary mixture is sniffed repeatedly, with one percept dominating then the other. Experiment 1 demonstrated olfactory rivalry using several new techniques. Experiments 2 and 3 examined whether participants can notice rivalry.