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- Title
- ASSOCIATION BETWEEN UNIRHINAL OLFACTORY PROCESSING AND SELF-REPORTED EMPATHY IN SCHIZOPHRENIA.
- Creator
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Kamath, Vidyulata, Bedwell, Jeffrey, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Empathy represents one multifaceted component of social cognition that is thought to be significantly impaired in individuals with schizophrenia. Psychophysical tasks of smell identification and hedonic processing of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant odors share common neural networks involved in empathy. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between odor identification, odor ratings, and self-reported empathy in 25 outpatients with schizophrenia and 25 nonpsychiatric individuals. Group...
Show moreEmpathy represents one multifaceted component of social cognition that is thought to be significantly impaired in individuals with schizophrenia. Psychophysical tasks of smell identification and hedonic processing of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant odors share common neural networks involved in empathy. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between odor identification, odor ratings, and self-reported empathy in 25 outpatients with schizophrenia and 25 nonpsychiatric individuals. Group differences on empathy scores and unirhinal smell identification performance (with hedonic and intensity ratings) were examined, along with the relationships between smell identification scores, self-reported empathy, and schizophrenia symptomatology. The preliminary findings suggest that individuals with schizophrenia display significant differences from controls on measures of self-reported empathy, odor identification, and hedonic ratings of odors. Deficits in self-reported global and affective empathy were influenced by group and sex, whereas cognitive empathy was reduced across all patients in comparison to controls. Patients displayed reduced unirhinal odor identification accuracy for pleasant but not neutral or unpleasant odors in comparison to controls. Central to the overall aim of the current study, a robust positive correlation was observed between left- and right-nostril hedonic ratings for pleasant odors and self-reported global and affective empathy scores across all participants. In patients, we also found a statistical trend between affective empathy and left-nostril identification accuracy across all odors. Collectively, the results lend support to the role of olfactory-limbic brain regions in the hedonic processing of odors and suggest that aberrant performance observed in schizophrenia may be related to abnormalities in the anatomical and physiological substrates that also subserve empathy.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2009
- Identifier
- CFE0002759, ucf:48132
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002759
- Title
- Human Factor Effects of Simulating Battlefield Malodors in Field Training.
- Creator
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Pike, William, Proctor, Michael, Shumaker, Randall, Sims, Valerie, Ness, James, Burgess, Deborah, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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In order to explore how to better utilize simulated odors for live training, a study of 180 United States Military Academy at West Point cadets was undertaken to determine whether pre-exposure to a simulated malodor may result in an amelioration of performance issues, as well as improving performance of a complex task. Exposure to malodors has long been shown to increase stress and escape behavior, and reduce performance of complex tasks, in addition to degrading other human factor areas....
Show moreIn order to explore how to better utilize simulated odors for live training, a study of 180 United States Military Academy at West Point cadets was undertaken to determine whether pre-exposure to a simulated malodor may result in an amelioration of performance issues, as well as improving performance of a complex task. Exposure to malodors has long been shown to increase stress and escape behavior, and reduce performance of complex tasks, in addition to degrading other human factor areas. However, desensitization to a particular odor through a process known as olfactory adaptation, could ameliorate these performance issues. In this study, cadets were assigned to one of three conditions: Adaptation (odor/odor, to denote presence or absence of the simulated malodor in each of two phases), No Adaptation (no odor/odor), or Control (no odor/no odor). Participants wore a device to track electrodermal activity, a predictor of stress. Participants spent 12 minutes in a tent taking a quiz involving a common military task. After two minutes, a scent delivery system was turned on, delivering either the simulated malodor (burnt human flesh) or no odor. Participants exited the tent after the full 12 minutes and rated the air quality of the tent. They repeated the exercise in a second tent, with a similar quiz. Metrics of interest included perceived intensity and detection time, common metrics for gauging olfactory adaption, as well as electrodermal activity, escape behavior, and task performance. Results indicate participants in the Adaptation condition were partially desensitized to the malodor. Performance metrics did not show any statistical significance for stress, escape behavior, or performance improvement for the Adaptation condition, although there was a strong negative correlation of performance and perceived mental demand. Performance improvement and stress results were trending in the expected directions. This study differed from previous work in olfactory adaptation studies by linking adaptation to performance during a relevant complex task, and provides valuable lessons for future olfactory studies. From a more applied viewpoint, this study also provides insight for future research into the incorporation of malodors in live training.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0007357, ucf:52097
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007357
