Basic HTML Version
concentration of CO
2
was changed. Second part: To examine the
temporal interaction, the two stimuli were presented with an
interval of 500 to 2000ms in between. Part three: The duration of
the CO
2
stimulus preceding the PEA stimulus was changed to
1000 to 3000ms. After perceiving both stimuli the subjects were
asked to rate the intensity of the odor (PEA stimulus) on a scale
from 0 to 100. The results show, that the perceived odor intensity
decreases with increasing trigeminal perception. This effect was
only seen, when the two stimuli were presented without an interval
between them.
#P256 POSTER SESSION VI: OLFACTION CNS; TASTE
PERIPHERY & CNS; MULTIMODAL RECEPTION
Influence of background noise on the performance in the odor
sensitivity task
Han-Seok Seo
1,2
, Antje Hähner
2
, Mandy Scheibe
2
, Volker Gudziol
2
1
Department of Food Science, University of Arkansas Fayetteville,
AR, USA,
2
Smell & Taste Clinic, Department of
Otorhinolaryngology, University of Dresden Medical School
Dresden, Germany
Although we often perceive odors while being exposed to various
background sounds, surprisingly little is known about an effect
of background sound on odor perception. Recent research has
demonstrated that participants’ performance in the odor
discrimination task was significantly distorted in the presence of
background noise compared with a silent condition. This
investigation aimed to determine whether background noise can
alter participants’ performance in a relatively simple odor
sensitivity task. The study consisted of three sessions. In each
session, participants were instructed to perform the odor sensitivity
task (i.e. odor threshold task of the “Sniffin’ Sticks” test) in the
presence of one of three auditory stimuli: non-verbal noise (e.g.
party sound); verbal noise (e.g. audio book); or silence (i.e. no
additional auditory stimulus). The order of the sessions was
randomly counterbalanced across the participants. Repeated
measures analysis of variance revealed that the mean scores of task
performance were not significantly different across three auditory
conditions at
P
<0.05. In conclusion, our findings suggest that
background noise has no impact on the performance in a simple
odor sensitivity task.
#P257
POSTER SESSION VI:
OLFACTION CNS; TASTE PERIPHERY &
CNS; MULTIMODAL RECEPTION
Multisensory processing of taste and oral temperature in the
mouse brain
David M Wilson, Christian H Lemon
St. Louis University School of Medicine Saint Louis, MO, USA
Taste neurons in the brain stem can show cross-modal capabilities,
responding to tastants and somatosensory stimuli including changes
in oral temperature. Little is known about the role these cells could
play in cross-sensory integration related to taste. Integration in
multisensory systems is known to involve additivity of unimodal
inputs in logical agreement. Here, we studied processing of
compound taste and thermal inputs by nucleus tractus solitarii
neurons in anesthetized mice and hypothesized that hedonically
aligned tastes and temperatures would induce additive responses.
Electrophysiological activity was recorded during oral presentation
of temperature-varied tastants, including (in mM) 100 sucrose, 30
NaCl, 3 HCl, 3 quinine, an umami stimulus, and purified water
tested at 16, 18, 22, 30, and 37 °C. Stimulus and temperature
interacted to shape the response properties of 18 of 22 neurons
(
P
<0.05) and effects were stimulus specific. Warmth (30 ºC) paired
with sucrose induced a superadditive response, where bimodal
activity was greater than the sum of the component responses
(
P
<0.001). Multiple studies show that rodents prefer warm water
to cool (Kapatos and Gold, 1972; Gold, 1976). No additivity was
found between warmth and aversive tastants, such as quinine
(
P
= 0.2). Analyses of response time course over multiple trials
showed parings of cooling and warmth with taste stimuli
respectively delayed or accelerated response onset. Studies of
multisensory systems show cross-modal stimuli frequently shift
response latency. Thus, classically defined taste neurons show
cross-modal receptive fields, where responses to taste stimuli
depend on somatosensory context. Our finding of these effects
in brain stem show multisensory interactions involving taste
begin early along the neuraxis. Acknowledgements:
NIH DC011579 (C.H.L.)
#P258
POSTER SESSION VI:
OLFACTION CNS; TASTE PERIPHERY &
CNS; MULTIMODAL RECEPTION
Food Hedonics and Sniff Magnitude
Svetlana Yakov
1
, Alan R. Hirsch
1
, Radhika Rastogi
1
,
Daniela Teixeira
1
, Sally Freels
2
1
Smell & Taste Treatment & Research Foundation Chicago, IL,
USA,
2
University of Illinois, School of Public Health
Chicago, IL, USA
Objective:
Sniff magnitude varies depending on olfactory ability
and the trigeminal component of the odor being tested. Moreover,
sniff magnitude may be influenced by the hedonics towards the
odors being tested. It is hypothesized that if hedonically positive,
sniff magnitude would be greater than baseline no odor control and
if hedonically negative, sniff magnitude would be substantially
reduced compared to baseline.
Methods:
Ten subjects, 2 males and
8 females with an average age of 30 years underwent the Sniff
Magnitude Test (Frank et al., 2003) while inhaling blank (control)
or Sniffin Sticks banana and fish smell. Each participant underwent
3 different measurements per odorant, and the average magnitude
was determined. Order of presentation was 1-blank, 2- fish, and
3-banana. Sniff Magnitude Test was performed as per
manufacturer’s instructions (CompuSniff).
Results:
Subjects rated
on Visual Analog Scale (VAS) of 1-10 the bananas as hedonically
positive (VAS 8), whereas fish was rated hedonically negative
(VAS 1.8). Average sniff magnitude on deep breathing for blank
was 33.6, fish 61.9, banana 41.1 (p=0.003 fish vs. blank).
Discussion:
Sniff magnitude with deep breathing did not decrease,
but rather increased the negative hedonics aromas of fish (p<0.01).
Pleasant aroma did not change sniff magnitude. Possibly the sniff
apnea reflex in response to odor was overwhelmed by cognitive
factors (curiosity, etc). Having had experience of negative odor,
subjects may have unconsciously assumed negative hedonics to any
further tests which may have acted to inhibit sniff magnitude.
Moreover, this test was performed with food odors. These findings
suggest that sniff magnitude may be refined enough to ultimately
be used to assess hedonics of odor independent of subject self-
rating.
Source of Funding
: None.
112 | AChemS Abstracts 2012
Abstracts are printed as submitted by the author(s)
P O S T E R P R E S E N T AT I O N S