Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
MOE Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
Psych J. 2024 Oct;13(5):870-879. doi: 10.1002/pchj.769. Epub 2024 May 16.
Chronic stress alters reward sensitivity and contributes to anhedonia. Chemosensation is dominated by a hedonic dimension, but little is known about the association between chronic perceived stress and hedonic chemosensation in non-clinical populations. In the current study, 325 participants (201 females) completed a questionnaire-based survey measuring their chronic perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale; PSS), chemosensory pleasure (Chemosensory Pleasure Scale; CPS), and olfactory metacognitive abilities (odor awareness, affective impact of odor, importance of olfaction). For females, higher PSS scores significantly predicted lower CPS scores, which is mediated by the positive odor awareness. Moreover, negative odor awareness was identified as a moderator underlying the relationship between PSS and CPS scores in females but not in males. For females, higher PSS predicted lower CPS for those with lower, but not for those with higher levels of negative odor awareness. These results show that the link between chronic perceived stress and chemosensory anhedonia is pronounced in females, with olfactory perception playing a key role. The current study provides insights into the understanding of stress-related anhedonia and into the development of effective treatments.
慢性压力会改变奖赏敏感性，并导致快感缺失。嗅觉主要受愉悦维度的支配，但对于非临床人群中慢性感知压力与愉悦性嗅觉感知之间的关联知之甚少。在当前的研究中，325 名参与者（201 名女性）完成了一项基于问卷的调查，测量了他们的慢性感知压力（感知压力量表；PSS）、嗅觉愉悦感（嗅觉愉悦感量表；CPS）和嗅觉元认知能力（嗅觉感知、气味对情感的影响、嗅觉的重要性）。对于女性而言，较高的 PSS 评分显著预示着较低的 CPS 评分，这是由积极的嗅觉感知介导的。此外，负面的嗅觉感知被确定为女性 PSS 和 CPS 评分之间关系的一个调节因素，但在男性中则不是。对于女性而言，对于那些嗅觉感知较低的人，较高的 PSS 预示着较低的 CPS，但对于那些嗅觉感知较高的人则不是。这些结果表明，慢性感知压力与嗅觉快感缺失之间的联系在女性中更为明显，嗅觉感知起着关键作用。本研究为理解与压力相关的快感缺失提供了新的视角，并为开发有效的治疗方法提供了思路。
