Livermore A, Laing D G
Behavioural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 1996 Apr;22(2):267-77. doi: 10.1037//0096-1523.22.2.267.
This study examined whether a previously established (D. G. Laing & G. W. Francis, 1989) limited capacity to discriminate and identify the components of olfactory mixtures resulted from the participants' lack of familiarity with the task, training designed to optimize cognitive and perceptual performance, or professional experience in odor discrimination. The participants were a trained panel of 10 women (23-43 years old), and an expert panel of 8 male professional perfumers and flavorists (25-55 years old). The individual chemical stimuli were 7 common dissimilar odorants of equal moderate intensity. An air dilution olfactometer delivered a single odorant or a mixture containing up to 5 odorants. The results indicated that for both panels only 3 or 4 components of a complex mixture could be discriminated and identified and that this capacity could not be increased by training. Therefore, the limit may be imposed physiologically or by processing constraints.
本研究考察了先前已证实的（D.G. 莱恩和G.W. 弗朗西斯，1989年）辨别和识别嗅觉混合物成分的能力受限，是由于参与者对任务不熟悉、旨在优化认知和感知表现的训练，还是气味辨别方面的专业经验所致。参与者包括一个由10名女性（23 - 43岁）组成的经过训练的小组，以及一个由8名男性专业调香师和调味师（25 - 55岁）组成的专家小组。单个化学刺激物是7种强度适中的常见不同气味剂。空气稀释嗅觉计可释放单一气味剂或包含多达5种气味剂的混合物。结果表明，对于两个小组而言，复杂混合物中只有3种或4种成分能够被辨别和识别，并且这种能力无法通过训练得到提高。因此，这种限制可能是由生理因素或处理限制所导致的。
