Cognitive factors in odor detection, odor discrimination, and odor identification tasks

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine cognitive correlates of olfactory performance across three different tasks. A total of 170 men and women (30–87 years of age) were assessed in olfactory sensitivity, discrimination, and identification. Also, participants were tested in a range of cognitive tests covering executive functioning, semantic memory, and episodic memory. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that proficiency in executive functioning and semantic memory contributed significantly to odor discrimination and identification performance, whereas all of the cognitive factors proved unrelated to performance in the odor threshold test. This pattern of outcome suggests that an individual's cognitive profile exerts a reliable influence on performance in higher order olfactory tasks.

Keywords:

• Olfaction
• Smell
• Cognition
• Memory
• Age

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Elisabeth Pauli at the Department of Neurology, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, for her help with psychological testing. T.H. was supported by a grant from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (European associated laboratory; EAL 549, CNRS-TUD).