Skip Navigation

Chemical Senses 2004 29(7):629-637; doi:10.1093/chemse/bjh066
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (15)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Olofsson, J. K.
Right arrow Articles by Nordin, S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Olofsson, J. K.
Right arrow Articles by Nordin, S.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Chemical Senses Vol. 29 No. 7 © Oxford University Press 2004; all rights reserved

Gender Differences in Chemosensory Perception and Event-related Potentials

Jonas K. Olofsson1 and Steven Nordin1,2

1 Department of Psychology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden and 2 Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, USA

Correpondence to be sent to: Steven Nordin, Department of Psychology, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden. e-mail: steven.nordin{at}psy.umu.se

The present study investigated chemosensory gender differences by means of ratings of total nasal chemosensory intensity, unpleasantness and sensory irritation and simultaneous recordings of chemosensory event-related potentials (CSERPs) for three concentrations of the olfactory/trigeminal stimulus pyridine in 19 women and 17 men, all young adults. Results show that, compared to men, women gave higher intensity and unpleasantness ratings, in particular for the highest stimulus concentration. The gender differences in perceived intensity are reflected in the signal-to-noise ratio of the individual CSERP averages, revealing more identifiable early components (P1, N1) in women than in men. The late positive component, labeled P2/P3, displayed larger amplitudes at all electrode sites and shorter latencies at Cz, in women compared to men. The effects of increased pyridine concentration on perception (larger in women) and CSERPs (similar across gender) imply that the two measures involve partially different neural processing. CSERP component identifiability is proposed here as a general means of assessing signal-to-noise ratio of the CSERPs.

Key words: intensity, irritation, olfaction, sex, trigeminal, unpleasantness


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 International Journal of Behavioral DevelopmentHome page
C. Ferdenzi, G. Coureaud, V. Camos, and B. Schaal
Human awareness and uses of odor cues in everyday life: Results from a questionnaire study in children
International Journal of Behavioral Development, September 1, 2008; 32(5): 422 - 431.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Chem SensesHome page
J. K. Olofsson, D. A. Broman, P. E. Gilbert, P. Dean, S. Nordin, and C. Murphy
Laterality of the Olfactory Event-Related Potential Response
Chem Senses, September 1, 2006; 31(7): 699 - 704.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.