Engagement in Olfaction-Related Activities is Associated with the Ability of Odor Identification and Odor Awareness

Nováková, Lenka; Valentová, Jaroslava Varella; Havlı́ček, Jan

doi:10.1007/s12078-014-9167-2

Cited by 40 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…These findings partly support the notion that women generally tend to outperform men in olfactory‐related tasks but the results depend upon the nature of the smells . Sex differences in personal experiences or environmental background may partly explain our findings, but we did not assess the menstrual cycle, which may also affect olfactory acuity, in our sample. Thus, the influences of reproductive hormones on olfaction should be further investigated.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Possible relation between olfaction and anxiety in healthy subjects

Takahashi

Itoh

Nishikawa

et al. 2015

Psychiatry Clin Neurosci

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Aims: While olfaction is a sense closely associated with the limbic system and emotions, the relation between emotional status and olfactory functioning has not been well documented. This study aimed to examine the possible effect of anxiety on olfaction in healthy subjects. Methods:We investigated the effect of state and trait anxiety on the detection and recognition thresholds for five different odors in 124 healthy subjects (62 men and 62 women, mean age = 27.2 years) using a T&T olfactometer.Results: While the influences of age, socioeconomic status, IQ, and smoking history on olfaction were not significant, women had a lower recognition threshold for the odor of sweet fruit and a higher detection threshold for that of rotten food as compared with men. Both state and trait anxiety ratings were significantly associated with reduced olfactory ability, especially for identification of rose odor.Conclusions: These findings suggest that emotional status affects olfactory functioning in healthy subjects. Our findings may also partly explain the mild olfactory impairment reported in clinical conditions, such as anxiety disorders.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Possible relation between olfaction and anxiety in healthy subjects

Takahashi

Itoh

Nishikawa

et al. 2015

Psychiatry Clin Neurosci

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“…The OAS-positive is a psychological measure of a person’s tendency in attending to, and attaching importance to positive odors in their environment ( Table 2 ). Scores for the OAS have also been associated with engagement in activities that requires olfaction (e.g., cooking), self-rated sense of smell, as well as performance on olfactory tests [ 15 , 67 ]. Therefore, part of the variance in the COPs score is likely due to such olfaction-related psychobiological differences among respondents.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Child Odors and Parenting: A Survey Examination of the Role of Odor in Child-Rearing

et al. 2016

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Parental caregiving is critical for the survival of our young and continuation of our species. In humans, visual and auditory signals from offspring have been shown to be potent facilitators of parenting. However, whether odors emitted by our young also influence human parenting remains unclear. To explore this, we conducted a series of questionnaire surveys targeting parents with children under 6 years old. First, we collected episodes on experiencing odors/sniffing various parts of a child’s body (n = 507). The prevalence of experiencing events described in those episodes was examined in a separate survey (n = 384). Based on those results, the Child Odor in Parenting scale (COPs) was developed, and subsequently used in the main survey (n = 888). We found COPs to have adequate content validity, concurrent validity, and reliability. Responses to the COPs demonstrated that parents, especially mothers with infants, are aware of odors from their offspring, and actively seek them in daily child-rearing. The factor structure and content of the COPs items indicated that child odors have both affective and instrumental roles. Affective experiences induce loving feeling and affectionate sniffing, while instrumental experiences pertain to specific hygienic needs. The head was the most frequent source of affective experiences, and the child’s bottom of instrumental. Each was experienced by more than 90% of the mothers with a child below 1 year of age. Affective experiences significantly declined as the child grew older, possibly associated with the decline of physical proximity between parents and child. This age-related decline was not prominent for instrumental experiences, except for the bottom, which significantly declined after 3 years of age. The present findings suggest that child odors play roles in human parenting, and that their nature and significance change during the course of a child’s development.

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“…Girls and boys did not differ significantly on any of these factors or covariates (all interactions with sex p >.14, in full and custom models given the evidence for significant environmental effects on odor reactivity (see Introduction), future research could pursue this, perhaps by testing whether training in olfactory awareness or odor identification corresponds to subsequent greater levels of olfactory reactivity. In adults, self-reported engagement in childhood and adulthood olfaction-related activities, such as use of herbs and spices in cooking, has been linked to adulthood odor identification and odor awareness (Nováková et al, 2014).…”

Section: Link Between Olfactory Environment and Odor Identification/amentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, Finnish children report more reactivity and attention to odors than French 4 children (Ferdenzi et al 2008b). Further, people who report greater exposure to olfactory activities (such as cooking) in childhood and adulthood score higher on a questionnaire about their tendency to react to odors in everyday life (Nováková et al, 2014). Finally, twin studies have shown that environmental effects account for a substantial proportion of the variation in people's perceptions of the intensity and pleasantness of some odors (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…perfume, hair spray), and odors linked to nature and animals (e.g. manure, hay) (Hirsch, 2006), and exposure to some of these types of odors has been linked to odor awareness (Nováková et al 2014). A subsidiary aim of our study was to evaluate the ease and practicality of the usage of the COBEL outside of the 5 European cultures where it has been previously used (Ferdenzi et al 2008a(Ferdenzi et al , 2008b.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sex Differences in Olfactory Behavior in Namibian and Czech Children

Saxton

Nováková

Jash³

et al. 2014

Chem. Percept.

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Sex differences in olfaction are well established, but explanations for those sex differences remain incomplete. One contributing factor could be individual-or cultural-level differences in exposure to odors. We tested whether frequent engagement with common sources of domestic odors (cooking, domestic animals, siblings) was linked to individual differences in olfactory reactivity and awareness among children in southern Namibia, and also compared study populations in southern Namibia and the Czech Republic using the established COBEL (Children's Olfactory Behaviour in Everyday Life) questionnaire. We did not find any effects of engagement with odor sources on olfactory behavior, but our results were consistent with usual olfactory sex differences in that girls scored higher than boys in measures of olfactory reactivity and awareness. Further, among the Czech children (but not among the Namibian children), odor identification abilities were positively linked to COBEL scores.Our data contribute to the literature that finds that sex differences in olfactory awareness are apparent across a diverse range of cultures and age groups.

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Engagement in Olfaction-Related Activities is Associated with the Ability of Odor Identification and Odor Awareness

Cited by 40 publications

References 39 publications

Possible relation between olfaction and anxiety in healthy subjects

Possible relation between olfaction and anxiety in healthy subjects

Child Odors and Parenting: A Survey Examination of the Role of Odor in Child-Rearing

Sex Differences in Olfactory Behavior in Namibian and Czech Children

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