Differential sex effects in olfactory functioning: The role of verbal processing

We investigated sex difference across a number of olfactory tasks. Thirty-six men and 35 women ranging in age from 19 to 36 years were assessed in 6 different tasks: absolute sensitivity for n-butanol, intensity discrimination, quality discrimination, episodic recognition memory for familiar and unf...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society 2002-07, Vol.8 (5), p.691-698
Main Authors: Öberg, Christina, Larsson, Maria, Bäckman, Lars
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Analysis of Variance
Discrimination (Psychology) - physiology
Familiarity
Female
Humans
Identification
Male
Medicin och hälsovetenskap
Memory - physiology
Menstrual Cycle - physiology
Menstrual Cycle - psychology
Odorants
Olfaction
Psychology
Psykologi
Quality discrimination
Recognition memory
Sensory Thresholds - physiology
Sex
Sex Characteristics
Smell - physiology
Verbal Behavior - physiology
Verbal processing
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Summary:We investigated sex difference across a number of olfactory tasks. Thirty-six men and 35 women ranging in age from 19 to 36 years were assessed in 6 different tasks: absolute sensitivity for n-butanol, intensity discrimination, quality discrimination, episodic recognition memory for familiar and unfamiliar odors, and odor identification. No sex differences were observed in the tasks tapping primarily sensory acuity (i.e., odor sensitivity, intensity discrimination, and quality discrimination) or in episodic memory for unfamiliar odors. By contrast, women outperformed men in the tasks involving verbal processing (i.e., memory for familiar odors and odor identification). Interestingly, controlling for odor naming ability resulted in that the observed sex difference in episodic odor memory for familiar odors disappeared. This outcome suggests that women's superiority in episodic odor memory is largely mediated by their higher proficiency in odor identification.
ISSN:1355-6177
1469-7661
1469-7661
DOI:10.1017/S1355617702801424