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High-Resolution Time–Intensity Tracking of Sustained Human Orthonasal and Retronasal Smelling During Natural Breathing

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Chemosensory Perception

Abstract

Perceived intensities of continuously available orthonasal and retronasal vapor-phase stimuli during natural breathing for approximately the first minute of smelling were not known in detail. To clarify this, stimuli presented continuously in vapor phase orthonasally or retronasally during natural breathing were time–intensity tracked over 55 s by 19 participants, with tracked intensities measured every 100 ms. Before the tracking session, participants individually matched concentrations of anise, coffee, peppermint, and strawberry flavors to the intensity of a fifth stimulus, orange. These were their tracked concentrations. During the intensity tracking sessions, real-time visual feedback of judged intensity was provided on a computer display. Participants controlled the vertical position of the display (intensity) while the horizontal position (time) advanced at a constant rate under program control, creating an image of intensity with respect to time. It was found that during natural breathing, retronasal-tracked intensity increased to maximum at ∼8 s, but was approximately half of orthonasal tracked maximum intensity, reached after ∼11 s. Within the 55-s tracking period, retronasal and orthonasal maxima exceeded their initial and final intensities. Final intensities at 55 s were approximately half of the maximum intensities. These data indicate, with high-resolution tracking during natural breathing of continuously presented vapor-phase stimuli, that intensity of smelling increases to a maximum after initial intensity is perceived, and that smelled intensity then declines slowly during approximately the first minute of smelling.

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Funding

This study was supported by the USDA Hatch NYC-191403, The Cornell Presidential Scholars Program, and a Susan Linn Sage Professorship.

Acknowledgments

We thank Rick Dale for creating the time–intensity-tracking computer program in REALbasic, Francine H. Hollis and Robert A. Raguso for comments on a previous draft of this manuscript, and the anonymous reviewers for their recommendations.

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  1. Jennifer Lee

    Present address: Albert Einstein College of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Psychology and Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

    Jennifer Lee & Bruce P. Halpern

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Correspondence to Bruce P. Halpern.

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Lee, J., Halpern, B.P. High-Resolution Time–Intensity Tracking of Sustained Human Orthonasal and Retronasal Smelling During Natural Breathing. Chem. Percept. 6, 20–35 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12078-012-9136-6

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