Presentation Details
| Does the Nasal Cycle provide an attentional gain in olfaction Michal Tamir, Kobi Snitz, Noam Sobel. Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel |
Abstract
Nasal airflow is asymmetric across nostrils, greater in one nostril over the other. This asymmetry fluctuates on an ultradian cycle known as the nasal cycle. Whereas the offset across nostrils increases the range of molecules within optimal sensitivity, why this offset shifts over time, and the relevance of this shift to olfaction, remain unknown. Here we hypothesized that this shift may provide for attentional gain. More specifically, we hypothesized that when asymmetry is reduced, the measure of central noise is reduced, and therefore sensitivity will be higher. To test this hypothesis, we sat participants to watch a monotonic nature film in a room, while 6 odorant events, each lasting 10 seconds, were generated in the ambient air once about every 7 minutes. A combination of photo-ionization detector and electronic nose were used to sample the air directly above the nose, so as to gain a measure of odor dispersion. Participants were instructed to press a button at any time during the 45-minute experiment if they experienced a change in ambient smell. Nostril-specific nasal airflow was measured concurrently. To date, we studied 19 participants (11F) using two sets of 6 odorants (15 participants set #1, 4 participants set #2). Mean F1 score was 0.51 (SD = 0.15), implying that we were within psychophysical range. However, we failed to observe any relation between the nasal cycle and either accuracy (r = 0.1) or reaction time (r = 0.14). In turn, in-depth analysis revealed that in the 4 participants using the second odorant set, accuracy consistently shifted with asymmetry. These merits matching cohort size, and the complete investigation of this pattern will be presented.
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