Olfactory habituation to food and nonfood odours

Abstract

Olfactory perception can be modulated by the repeated exposure to odours. Olfactory habituation is a reduced behavioural response to repetitive stimulation. Edibility is considered an important top-down feature that can affect olfactory perception, but whether it could modulate olfactory habituation when food or non-food odours are repeatedly smelled remains unclear. Indeed, due to their ecological salience, food odours attract attention automatically which might slow down habituation. This registered report aimed to determine whether olfactory habituation shows a different pattern when participants are presented with food or non-food odours. In a within-subject design, 50 participants were tested under satiated and fasted states in separated experimental sessions. In each session, participants were exposed to the same food and non-food odour in different blocks of 20 trials each. Participants rated the perceived odour intensity and pleasantness after each trial. We used an intermittent odour presentation to reduce olfactory fatigue while capitalising on the effect of cognitive states on habituation. Linear mixed-effects models showed that the perceived odour intensity decreased over time only for non-food odours. Conversely, the perceived odour pleasantness decreased significantly more across trials for food odours. These effects were retrieved regardless of the participant's hunger state. Our results are in line with the olfactory specific satiety theory which posits a specific decrease in the perceived pleasantness of food odours, without changes in the perceived odour intensity. In short, our findings indicate that perceived odour edibility modulates olfactory habituation, extending the previous literature on the impact of top-down factors on olfactory perception.

Patterns of flavored e-cigarette use among adults vapers in the United States: an online cross-sectional survey of 69,233 participants

“…Multiple avor use has been observed since the early days of e-cigarettes [8]. This may be related to olfactory fatigue that is observed when the same avor is used for prolonged time [8,17] or due to a signi cant decrease in pleasantness with time even when the odor is initially pleasant [18].…”

Patterns of flavored e-cigarette use among adult vapers in the USA: an online cross-sectional survey of 69,233 participants

“…Multiple flavor use has been observed since the early days of e-cigarettes [ 8 ]. This may be related to olfactory fatigue that is observed when the same flavor is used for prolonged time [ 8 , 17 ] or due to a significant decrease in pleasantness with time even when the odor is initially pleasant [ 18 ].…”

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“…[6][7][8][9] Inhalation is the main mode of ammonia poisoning, and ammonia with low concentration in the air is difficult to detect due to olfactory fatigue. 10,11 Therefore, it is necessary to detect ammonia in the air, especially in chemical enterprises and farms. At present, electrochemical sensors based on conductive polymers and solid-state electrolytes have been developed rapidly in the gas sensing field, [12][13][14][15][16] which have the advantages of high sensitivity, miniaturization, device integration, and networking functions.…”