Invitto Sara, Accogli Giuseppe, Leucci Mariangela, Salonna Marika, Serio Tonia, Fancello Francesca, Ciccarese Vincenzo, Lankford Dion
Inspire Lab, Laboratory of Cognitive and Psychophysiological Olfactory Processes, Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy.
Istituto Santa Chiara, 73100 Lecce, Italy.
Brain Sci. 2022 Aug 19;12(8):1108. doi: 10.3390/brainsci12081108.
Many studies have focused on navigation, spatial skills, and the olfactory system in comparative models, including those concerning the relationship between them and physical activity. Although the results are often in contrast with each other, it is assumed that physical activity can affect cognition in different ways-both indirectly and through a certain influence on some brain structures. In contrast, there is little research that focuses on the relationship between spatial abilities and olfactory abilities in humans. This research aimed to evaluate and compare the performance in working memory tasks of athletes and non-athletes who require good visual-spatial navigation, olfactory-spatial navigation, and olfactory-semantic skills. The study involved 236 participants (83 athletes) between the ages of 18 and 40. All subjects were matched by age or sex. The standard Corsi Block Tapping Test (CBTT) was administrated to investigate the visual-spatial memory. Olfactory-spatial navigation and olfactory-semantic skills were assessed with two modified versions of CBTT: Olfactory CBTT (OCBTT) and Semantic-Olfactory CBTT (SOCBTT) respectively. The results show differences between the CORSI conditions in direction of a poor performance for athletes. A gender effect in favor of men was also found, particularly in the classic version of the CBTT. Both groups performed better in the classic version of the CBTT than OCBTT and SOCBTT. The mean of SOCBTT results is markedly lower, perhaps due to the different information processing systems needed to perform this kind of task. It is possible to explain how sports practice can affect tasks that require spatial skills and olfactory perception differently, thus supporting new hypotheses and opening new scientific horizons.
许多研究聚焦于比较模型中的导航、空间技能和嗅觉系统，包括它们与身体活动之间的关系。尽管结果常常相互矛盾，但人们认为身体活动可以通过不同方式影响认知——既可以间接影响，也可以通过对某些脑结构产生特定影响来实现。相比之下，很少有研究关注人类空间能力与嗅觉能力之间的关系。本研究旨在评估和比较需要良好视觉空间导航、嗅觉空间导航和嗅觉语义技能的运动员和非运动员在工作记忆任务中的表现。该研究涉及236名年龄在18岁至40岁之间的参与者（83名运动员）。所有受试者按年龄或性别进行匹配。采用标准的科西块敲击测试（CBTT）来研究视觉空间记忆。分别用CBTT的两个修改版本：嗅觉CBTT（OCBTT）和语义嗅觉CBTT（SOCBTT）来评估嗅觉空间导航和嗅觉语义技能。结果显示，在CORSI条件下，运动员的表现方向存在差异。还发现了有利于男性的性别效应，尤其是在CBTT的经典版本中。两组在CBTT经典版本中的表现均优于OCBTT和SOCBTT。SOCBTT结果的平均值明显较低，这可能是由于执行这类任务需要不同的信息处理系统。这有可能解释体育锻炼如何以不同方式影响需要空间技能和嗅觉感知的任务，从而支持新的假设并开辟新的科学视野。
