TY  - JOUR
PY  - 1991//
TI  - Olfactory sensitivity: reliability, generality, and association with aging
JO  - Journal of experimental psychology: human perception and performance
A1  - Cain, William S.
A1  - Gent, Janneane F.
SP  - 382
EP  - 391
VL  - 17
IS  - 2
N2  - Thirty-two Ss between 22 and 59 years of age yielded detection thresholds for 4 odorants over 4 sessions. The thresholds decreased and reliability increased over the course of testing. High intercorrelations between odorants and the stability of an S's relative position within the threshold distributions showed that a general factor of sensitivity dominated the outcome. Age contributed strongly to intersubject variation. Even among these nonelderly individuals, it accounted for up to 2 orders of magnitude in threshold performance. Other important factors included superiority of the right nostril and a negative correlation between the mean and variance of threshold distributions. Scant attention to the correlation may have contributed to overestimation of the frequency and specificity of specific anosmia. A clinically relevant outcome was that measurement of threshold for diagnostic purposes can generally rely on just 1 odorant.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0096-1523
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -