Souchereau, Jennifer
1.31 MB of textual records (PDF)
Audience: Undergraduate. -- Dissertation: Thesis (B. A.). -- Algoma University, 2009. -- Submitted in partial fulfillment of course requirements for PSYC 4105. -- Includes references and figures. -- Contents: Thesis.
It would be adaptive for humans to identify a toxic odor in an odor mixture regardless of the number of components present. Twenty-seven undergraduate students were presented with 15 odor mixtures and asked to identify the content of each mixture. Each odor mixture contained 1 toxic odor and 1 to 5 non-toxic odors. Participants’ detection of toxic odors in a mixture was not dependent upon the number of components present in a mixture. However, the higher the level of toxicity of a substance, the more easily it was identified in an odor mixture. A benefit of olfaction appears to be the ability to detect toxic odors in any given odor mixture. The results are discussed in relation to suppression, familiarity, intensity and activation of brain regions and future research is suggested.
