Affected by Smells? Environmental Chemical Responsivity Predicts Odor Perception

Abstract

Strong negative reactions, physical symptoms, and behavioral disruptions due to environmental odors are common in the adult population. We investigated relationships among such environmental chemosensory responsivity (CR), personality traits, affective states, and odor perception. Study 1 showed that CR and neuroticism were positively correlated in a sample of young adults (n = 101), suggesting that persons high in neuroticism respond more negatively to environmental odors. Study 2 explored the relationships among CR, noise responsivity (NR), neuroticism, and odor perception (i.e., pleasantness and intensity) in a subset of participants (n = 40). High CR was associated with high NR. Regression analyses indicated that high CR predicted higher odor intensity ratings and low olfactory threshold (high sensitivity) predicted lower pleasantness ratings. However, neuroticism was not directly associated with odor ratings or thresholds. Overall, the results suggest that CR and odor thresholds predict perceptual ratings of odors and that high CR is associated with nonchemosensory affective traits.

Research on Odor Interaction between Aldehyde Compounds via a Partial Differential Equation (PDE) Model

“…For example, Karnekull et al . employed a group of participants to assess odor threshold, odor intensity, perceived odor hedonics and performed their regression models [ 16 ].…”

Gender differences in influences of temperament on olfactory reactivity and awareness

“…Negative affectivity appears to influence reactivity to environmental odours and reports of subjectively assessed exposure-related olfactory and respiratory symptoms 15 , 16 . In line with this is the finding that highly neurotic individuals respond more negatively to environmental odours 17 . Buron et al .…”

“…The authors found that individuals with high negative affectivity levels reported significantly more alleged olfactory and respiratory symptoms upon exposure to ammonia. Finally, highly neurotic individuals respond more negatively to environmental odours 17 . Altogether these studies suggest that negative affectivity seems to play a role in the way individuals experience their olfactory environment.…”

Olfactory-Related Quality of Life in Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: A Genetic-Acquired Factors Model

“…MCS patients usually react to a wide range of everyday chemical compounds such as petrol, perfume, or pesticides by complaining of a wide spectrum of symptoms ranging from headache, fatigue, respiratory symptoms, dizziness, nausea, and especially, disosmia [4][5][6]. The discussion on the definition and nomenclature reflects the fact that the etiology of MCS is still unclear and a matter of debate [4,6].…”

“…Most frequently discussed etiologies include neurogenic inflammation [7], classical conditioning [8], and biochemical disruptions [1,6,9], finally hypothesizing that environmental exposure to chemical compounds, iatrogenic, psychological, and physical trauma as well as genetic polymorphisms may play a pathophysiological, mutually fostering role in MCS given that xenobiotic metabolism is influenced by sequence variations in the genes of metabolizing enzymes [6,10]. This is particularly evident-beyond controversial literature among olfactory testing results [1,5,[11][12][13][14][15]-when focusing on those daily activities negatively impacted by MCS olfactory disperception, which finally accounts for higher scores demonstrated by these patients along the Questionnaire of Olfactory Disorders (QOD), representing one of the most frequent clinical complaints referred by MCS patients [1,12,13]. Such debate on the mechanisms relating olfaction and pathophysiological processes at the central level in MCS reflects uncertainties among those phenomena regarding the pathways through which environmental compounds may elicit responses from sensorial organs to the central nervous system.…”