Smell & Taste Clinic, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Dresden Medical School, Dresden, Germany.
Neurosci Lett. 2010 Jul 12;478(3):175-8. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2010.05.011. Epub 2010 May 12.
This study aimed to investigate the cross-modal association of an "abstract symbol," designed for representation of an odor, with its corresponding odor. First, to explore the associations of abstract symbols with odors, participants were asked to match 8 odors with 19 different abstract symbols (Experiment 1). Next, we determined whether congruent symbols could modulate olfactory perception and olfactory event-related potentials (ERPs) (Experiment 2). One of two odors (phenylethanol (PEA) or 1-butanol) was presented with one of three conditions (congruent or incongruent symbol, no-symbol), and participants were asked to rate odor intensity and pleasantness during olfactory ERP recordings. Experiment 1 demonstrated that certain abstract symbols could be paired with specific odors. In Experiment 2 congruent symbol enhanced the intensity of PEA compared to no-symbol presentation. In addition, the respective congruent symbol increased the pleasantness of PEA and the unpleasantness of 1-butanol. Finally, compared to the incongruent symbol, the congruent symbol produced significantly higher amplitudes and shorter latencies in the N1 peak of olfactory ERPs. In conclusion, our findings demonstrated that abstract symbols may be associated with specific odors.
本研究旨在探究一种用于表示气味的“抽象符号”与相应气味之间的跨模态关联。首先，为了探究抽象符号与气味的关联，实验 1 要求参与者将 8 种气味与 19 种不同的抽象符号进行匹配。接下来，我们确定了相同的符号是否可以调节嗅觉感知和嗅觉事件相关电位（ERP）（实验 2）。在嗅觉 ERP 记录期间，参与者被要求在两种气味（苯乙醇（PEA）或 1-丁醇）中的一种与三种条件（相同符号、不同符号、无符号）中的一种进行匹配，并对气味强度和愉悦度进行评分。实验 1 表明，某些抽象符号可以与特定气味相匹配。在实验 2 中，与无符号呈现相比，相同符号增强了 PEA 的强度。此外，相应的相同符号增加了 PEA 的愉悦度和 1-丁醇的不愉快度。最后，与不同符号相比，相同符号在嗅觉 ERP 的 N1 峰中产生了更高的振幅和更短的潜伏期。总之，我们的研究结果表明，抽象符号可能与特定气味相关联。
