Chemosensory learning is a lifelong process of acquiring perceptual expertise and semantic knowledge about chemical stimuli within the everyday environment. In the research context, it is usually simulated using olfactory training, which typically involves repeated exposure to a set of odors over a period of time. Following olfactory training, enhanced olfactory performance has been observed in adults, and similar evidence is beginning to emerge in children. However, the literature is scant concerning the effects of interventions that more closely resemble how chemosensory experience is acquired in daily life. Since children's chemosensory ecology appears to play a crucial role in olfactory development, we investigated whether engaging in activities that stimulate the chemical senses enhances olfactory performance and metacognition. To this end, we invited 20 children aged 9-11 years to participate in teacher-assisted after-school activities for 30-60 minutes a day for six weeks. During the odd weeks, the children appraised herbal and spice blends and used them to prepare dishes and make beauty products. During the even ones, they explored the city by smellwalking and created smellscape maps. The educational outcomes were evaluated using the Sniffin' Sticks test for odor identification and discrimination and the Children's Personal Significance of Olfaction. Bayesian analyses did not reveal any compelling evidence in support of the alternative hypothesis that children in the chemosensory education group outperform those in the comparison group at the post-test. Rates of reliable increase but also decrease in performance on the Sniffin' Sticks identification and discrimination tests were similar in both groups. We corroborated the previous findings regarding girls' and older children's greater proficiency at identifying odors and the female keener interest in the sense of smell. We offer several practical suggestions researchers may want to consider to tailor their research protocols to reflect more closely the broader context in which chemosensory learning takes place and better capture the nuanced outcomes of such interventions.
- MeSH
- Bayesova věta MeSH
- čich * fyziologie MeSH
- čichová percepce * fyziologie MeSH
- dítě MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- odoranty * MeSH
- školy MeSH
- učení fyziologie MeSH
- Check Tag
- dítě MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
Olfactory and cognitive performance share neural correlates profoundly affected by physiological aging. However, whether odor identification and discrimination scores predict global cognitive status and executive function in healthy older people with intact cognition is unclear. Therefore, in the present study, we set out to elucidate these links in a convenience sample of 204 independently living, cognitively intact healthy Czech adults aged 77.4 ± 8.7 (61-97 years) over two waves of data collection (one-year interval). We used the Czech versions of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) to evaluate global cognition, and the Prague Stroop Test (PST), Trail Making Test (TMT), and several verbal fluency (VF) tests to assess executive function. As a subsidiary aim, we aimed to examine the contribution of olfactory performance towards achieving a MoCA score above vs. below the published cut-off value. We found that the MoCA scores exhibited moderate associations with both odor identification and discrimination. Furthermore, odor identification significantly predicted PST C and C/D scores. Odor discrimination significantly predicted PST C/D, TMT B/A, and standardized composite VF scores. Our findings demonstrate that olfaction, on the one hand, and global cognition and executive function, on the other, are related even in healthy older people.
- MeSH
- čich fyziologie MeSH
- čichová percepce fyziologie MeSH
- diskriminace (psychologie) * fyziologie MeSH
- exekutivní funkce * fyziologie MeSH
- kognice * fyziologie MeSH
- kognitivní dysfunkce patofyziologie diagnóza MeSH
- lidé středního věku MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- neuropsychologické testy MeSH
- odoranty * MeSH
- senioři nad 80 let MeSH
- senioři MeSH
- stárnutí * fyziologie MeSH
- testy pro posouzení mentálních funkcí a demence MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé středního věku MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- senioři nad 80 let MeSH
- senioři MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
Puberty tends to be viewed as a "turning point" in hedonic perception of body odor (BO)-related smells. The pubertal stage, a potential proxy for the underlying physiological changes, may contribute to variation in odor hedonic perception. Other potential modulators of odor hedonics are general semantic knowledge about odors (which also tends to be subsumed under the term "age") and perceived odor intensity. The present cross-sectional study examined differences in hedonic odor perception across puberty in 205 Czech children aged 11-14 (89 boys). We investigated whether children differ in the hedonic appraisal of BO-related (16-androstenes and castoreum control), but also food and non-food odors according to their pubertal (penis/breast and pubic hair) development and general semantic knowledge about odors (operationalized as odor identification), controlling for age and perceived odor intensity. As a subsidiary aim, we examined variation in odor identification. We asked the children to self-stage themselves using drawings depicting Tanner's penis/breast and pubic hair stages of pubertal development, estimated their general semantic knowledge about odors with a Sniffin' Sticks identification test, and obtained their pleasantness and intensity ratings of body odor-related, food, a non-food smells. We found that the participants' ratings of the 16-androstenes and those of the perceptually similar odor of castoreum differed according to perceived intensity and, in the latter case, in boys vs. girls as well, but there were no influences of pubertal status or odor identification on the perceived pleasantness. Similarly, hedonic appraisal of non-food (but not food) odors was only influenced by perceived intensity. Regarding odor identification, differences between boys and girls were limited to younger children and did not become more marked throughout puberty. Perceived pleasantness of odors, irrespective of whether they are associated with body smells, food, or other, does not appear to vary across puberty, and boys and girls seem to achieve similar levels of semantic odor knowledge as they grow up.
- MeSH
- čich * fyziologie MeSH
- čichová percepce fyziologie MeSH
- dítě MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mladiství MeSH
- odoranty * MeSH
- průřezové studie MeSH
- puberta * fyziologie psychologie MeSH
- radost fyziologie MeSH
- Check Tag
- dítě MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mladiství MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- Geografické názvy
- Česká republika MeSH
Previous laboratory research has shown that exposure to odours of contrasting pleasantness during sleep differentially affects the emotional tone of dreams. In the present study, we sought to investigate how a generally pleasant (vanillin) and unpleasant (thioglycolic acid [TGA]) smell influenced various dream characteristics, dream emotions, and post-sleep core affect during all-night exposure, controlling for appraisal of the olfactory environment during the assessments and sleep stage from which the participants woke up. We expected that exposure to vanillin would result in more pleasant dreams, more positive and less negative dream emotions, and a more positive post-sleep core affect compared to the control condition, whereas exposure to TGA would have the opposite effect. Sixty healthy volunteers (36 males, mean age 24 ± 4 years) were invited to visit the sleep laboratory three times in weekly intervals. The first visit served to adapt the participants to the laboratory environment. On the second visit, half the participants were exposed to an odour (vanillin or TGA, 1:1) and the other half to the odourless control condition. On the third visit, they received control or exposure in a balanced order. On each visit, the participants woke up twice, first from the rapid eye movement (REM) sleep stage and then in the morning, usually from a non-REM sleep stage. Repeated measures were taken upon each awakening. Dream pleasantness, emotional charge of the dream, positive and negative emotions experienced in the dream, and four dimensions of post-sleep core affect (valence, activation, pleasant activation - unpleasant deactivation, and unpleasant activation - pleasant deactivation) were assessed. We found a small effect of condition (exposure vs. control) in interaction with appraisal of the ambient olfactory environment on dream pleasantness. Specifically, false alarms (i.e., perceiving odour in the absence of the target stimulus) were associated with lower dream pleasantness than correct rejections. Although exposure had a statistically significant positive influence on post-sleep core affect (namely, valence, activation, and pleasant activation - unpleasant deactivation), the size of the effect was small and lacked practical significance. The hypothesised differential effects of vanillin and TGA were only modelled for dream ratings because they decreased the fit of the other models. Neither dream pleasantness nor emotionality differed according to the odour used for stimulation. The results of the present study suggest that all-night exposure to odours is unlikely to produce practically significant positive effects on dreams and post-sleep core affect.
- MeSH
- dospělí MeSH
- emoce MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mladý dospělý MeSH
- odoranty * MeSH
- sny * MeSH
- spánek REM MeSH
- stadia spánku MeSH
- Check Tag
- dospělí MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mladý dospělý MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
Mental activity in sleep often involves visual and auditory content. Chemosensory (olfactory and gustatory) experiences are less common and underexplored. The aim of the study was to identify olfaction-related factors that may affect the occurrence of chemosensory dream content. Specifically, we investigated the effects of all-night exposure to an ambient odour, participants' appraisal of their current olfactory environment, their general propensity to notice odours and act on them (i.e., odour awareness), and their olfactory acuity. Sixty pre-screened healthy young adults underwent olfactory assessment, completed a measure of odour awareness, and spent three nights in weekly intervals in a sleep laboratory. The purpose of the first visit was to adapt to the experimental setting. On the second visit, half of them were exposed to the smell of vanillin or thioglycolic acid and the other half to an odourless control condition. On the third visit, they received control or stimulation in a balanced order. On each visit, data were collected twice: once from the first rapid eye movement (REM) stage that occurred after 3 a.m., and then shortly before getting up, usually from a non-REM stage. Participants were asked to report the presence of sensory dream content and to assess their current olfactory environment. Neither exposure, nor participants' assessments of the ambient odour, or olfactory acuity affected reports of chemosensory dream content but they were more frequent in individuals with greater odour awareness. This finding may have implications for treatment when such experiences become unwanted or bothersome.
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
Conducting interviews about children's olfactory behaviours offers a feasible way of learning about the earliest perceptions and knowledge of one's odour world. However, little is known about the stability and development of such self-reports. Here we present the first longitudinal study to repeatedly test children's odour awareness using the Children's Olfactory Behavior in Everyday Life (COBEL) questionnaire in five waves over a two-year period. We expected that higher scores would be attained by girls relative to boys and by older children compared to younger ones and that the scores would increase further into the study. We found a linear time-related increase in the total COBEL scores and in the food and environmental components, whereas awareness of social odours decreased over time. Girls were more olfaction-oriented in the context of social and environmental, but not food, odours. All the reported effects were small. The age at which the children entered the study did not affect their scores. We suggest that the unexpected findings regarding social odours warrant replication in particular and extension in longitudinal studies carried out over a broader time span.
- MeSH
- čich fyziologie MeSH
- čichová percepce fyziologie MeSH
- dítě MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- longitudinální studie MeSH
- odoranty * MeSH
- předškolní dítě MeSH
- průzkumy a dotazníky MeSH
- uvědomování si MeSH
- vývoj dítěte fyziologie MeSH
- Check Tag
- dítě MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- předškolní dítě MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
Diversity in children's everyday olfactory environment may affect the development of their olfactory abilities and odor awareness. To test this, we collected data on olfactory abilities using the Sniffin' Sticks and odor awareness with Children's Olfactory Behaviors in Everyday Life Questionnaire in 153 preschool children and retested them one and a half year later. Parents completed an inventory on children's exposure to a variety of odors and on their own odor awareness using the Odor Awareness Scale. We controlled for the effects of age and verbal fluency on the children's performance. We found that the children's odor identification and discrimination scores differed as a function of parental odor awareness. Although these effects were rather small, they were commensurate in size with those of gender and age. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to present evidence that diversity in children's olfactory environment affects variation in their olfactory abilities and odor awareness. We suggest that future studies consider the long-term impact of perceptual learning out of the laboratory and its consequences for olfactory development.
- MeSH
- analýza rozptylu MeSH
- čichová percepce * MeSH
- dítě MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- odoranty MeSH
- předškolní dítě MeSH
- rodiče MeSH
- životní prostředí * MeSH
- Check Tag
- dítě MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- předškolní dítě MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
- MeSH
- čichová percepce * fyziologie MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- odoranty MeSH
- olfaktometrie MeSH
- spánek REM fyziologie účinky léků MeSH
- spánek fyziologie MeSH
- stadia spánku fyziologie účinky léků MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
- Publikační typ
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
Během normálního stárnutí dochází k poklesu čichového a chuťového vnímání, jehož si lidé nebývají vědomi. Tento pokles je měřitelný například psychofyzickými metodami testování čichu a chuti. Studium poklesu chemosenzorických funkcí během normálního stárnutí má smysl pro predikci kognitivního poklesu, diagnostické účely u neurodegenerativních onemocnění, ale i ve vztahu ke kvalitě života. Dopady poruch čichu a chuti zahrnují zejména výskyt depresí, snížení sebehodnocené kvality života, ať už jde o hodnocení všeobecného zdravotního stavu, mentálního zdraví, tělesného a sociálního fungování, ale i změny stravovacích návyků a vzrůst rizika nehod v domácnosti, jež mohou mít důsledky pro zdravotní stav. Cílem tohoto článku je proto představit možnosti hodnocení čichových a chuťových funkcí, povahu jejich poklesu u normálně stárnoucích osob, souvislosti s poklesem kognitivním a s emočním prožíváním, dopady na kvalitu života a možnosti copingu se změnami čichového a chuťového vnímání.
Olfactory and gustatory functions exhibit over the course of normal aging a marked decline that often goes unnoticed. This decline can be assessed with psychophysical methods of olfactory and gustatory testing. Investigations of the decrease in chemosensory dysfunction during normal aging have significance for prediction of cognitive decline, diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, but also with regard to quality of life. The consequences for the quality of life include mainly occurrence of depression, decline of self-assessed quality of life in general and assessments of general health, mental health, physical and social functioning in particular, but also changes in dietary habits and an increased risk of household accidents, with potential implications for health status. The aim of this review is to introduce methods of assessment of smell and taste functions, the nature of their decline in normally aging persons, associations with cognitive decline and emotional status, consequences for quality of life and ways of coping with olfactory and gustatory changes.
