1 Introduction In a modern western culture dominated by visual and auditory perception, olfaction is commonly regarded as a minor sensory modality. Yet, scents are extremely evocative; they can also shift attention, add novelty, enhance mental state and add presence. And, as an ambient or peripheral medium [1], olfaction does not require manipulation or eye contact. This chapter explores the se...

BACKGROUND A laryngectomy affects many of a patient's functions. Besides speech and respiratory-tract problems, olfaction and gustation problems can also have an influence on the quality of life. The aim of this study was to find out how often various nasal problems and decreased gustation appear after a laryngectomy. PATIENTS AND METHODS One hundred and five laryngectomized patients (9 women...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS To detect validity and reliability of the Questionnaire of Olfactory Disorders (QOD) compared to other quality-of-life (QoL) questionnaires, to explore its ability to reflect olfaction-related QoL changes, and to investigate age- and gender-related effects of olfactory changes on QOD results. STUDY DESIGN Prospective clinical study. METHODS One hundred two patients (56...

The basic psychophysical principle of speed-accuracy tradeoff (SAT) has been used to understand key aspects of neuronal information processing in vision and audition, but the principle of SAT is still debated in olfaction. In this study we present the direct observation of SAT in olfaction. We developed a behavioral paradigm for mice in which both the duration of odorant sampling and the diffic...

Current emphasis on odorant physiochemical features as the basis for perception largely ignores the synthetic and experience-dependent nature of olfaction. Olfaction is synthetic, as mammals have only limited ability to identify elements within even simple odor mixtures. Furthermore, olfaction is experience-bound, as exposure alone can significantly affect the extent to which stimuli can be dis...