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Abstract
We recently reported data showing that, while human olfactory pleasantness is modulated by semantic knowledge of smells, the physicochemical aspects of odorant molecules are prominent determinants of odor hedonic valence, especially in children and seniors, two age groups characterized by either low level of (children) or weak access to (seniors) odor semantic knowledge.1 Here, we present additional data from a human and an animal study, confirming that odorant structure predicts odor pleasantness and suggesting that this influence may be already engraved at receptor level.
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank The Fondation Roudnitska and the Region Rhone-Alpes France for their support.
Figures and Tables
Figure 1 Physicochemical properties of odorant molecules influence neural activity in the olfactory epithelium of the frog and odor pleasantness in humans. Each point in the graphs corresponds to an odorant. (A) List of odorant compounds. (B) Significant correlation between Molecular-PC1 and ORN-PC1. (C and D) Molecular-PC1 influences odor pleasantness but not odor intensity in humans. (E and G) Molecular weight correlates with Molecular-PC1, odor pleasantness in humans and ORN-PC1 in frog.
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