Chemical Senses Advance Access originally published online on January 6, 2007
Chemical Senses 2007 32(3):237-244; doi:10.1093/chemse/bjl051
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Individual Differences in Odor Imaging Ability Reflect Differences in Olfactory and Emotional Perception
1 Laboratoire de Neurosciences et Systèmes Sensoriels, UMR 5020 CNRS, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 50 avenue Tony Garnier, 69366 Lyon cedex 07, France, 2 Institut Fédératif des Neurosciences de Lyon, Bât B13 Groupement Hospitalier Est 59, boulevard Pinel 69677 BRON cedex, France and 3 UMR FLAVIC, Flaveur, Vision et Comportement du consommateur, Centre INRA de Dijon, 17 rue Sully, BP86510, 21065 Dijon cedex, France
Correspondence to be sent to: M. Bensafi, Laboratoire de Neurosciences et Systèmes Sensoriels, UMR 5020 CNRS, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 50 avenue Tony Garnier, 69366 Lyon cedex 07, France. e-mail: bensafi{at}olfac.univ-lyon1.fr
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Abstract |
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We asked whether the large variability in odor imaging ability is underlain by interindividual differences in the processing of smells and emotion. Olfactory imaging ability, anhedonia level, and odor perception were measured in 40 subjects, using the Vividness of Olfactory Imagery Questionnaire (VOIQ), the Physical Anhedonia Scale, and the European Test of Olfactory Capabilities. "Good" olfactory imagers, defined primarily on the basis of the VOIQ, rated pleasant smells as more familiar and had lower anhedonia scores than "bad" olfactory imagers. Based on self-reported measures, these results suggest that, like olfactory perception, the mental imagery of smells is related to emotion and that, beyond their differences in vividness, good and bad olfactory imagers differ in their experience of emotion and long-term memory of smells.
Key words: anhedonia, emotion, individual differences, mental imagery, olfaction
Accepted 7 December 2006
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