The influence of stimulus duration on odor perception.

Although different parameters are known to alter the shape of olfactory event related potentials (ERP), ERP parameters are generally thought to be independent from stimulus duration. Evidence from recent studies investigating trigeminal ERP indicates that this may not be true. Aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship of stimulus duration and ERP. A total of 20 young healthy subjects participated. Subjects were investigated on 5 occasions on 5 different days. ERP were recorded to olfactory stimuli of two different concentrations and 3 different durations (100 ms, 200 ms, 300 ms). In two sessions olfactory ERP to PEA were recorded, in another two sessions H2S was applied. During the same sessions, intensity ratings were recorded. In the fifth session, subjects were asked to rate the duration of H2S stimuli and PEA stimuli. Whereas at weak stimulus concentrations no effect of stimulus duration could be observed, there was a clear effect of "duration" in ERP amplitudes following stimuli with higher concentrations: the longer the stimulus duration the larger the ERP amplitudes. No effect was found on ERP latencies. With regard to intensity ratings, strong stimuli and longer lasting stimuli lead to higher ratings. Similarly, ratings of stimulus duration were dependent from stimulus concentration and stimulus duration. Results of the present study showed that similar to trigeminal ERP, information about stimulus duration is encoded in olfactory ERP, mainly in amplitudes.