Comparative Effects of Repetitive Odor Identification and Odor Memory Tasks on Olfactory Engagement in Older Populations – A Pilot fMRI Study

Abstract Facing one’s own death and managing the fear of death are important existential issues, particularly in older populations. Although recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have investigated brain responses to death-related stimuli, none has examined whether this brain activation was specific to one’s own death or how it was related to dispositional fear of death. In this study, during fMRI, 34 elderly participants (aged, 60–72 years) were presented with either death-related or death-unrelated negative words and asked to evaluate the relevance of these words to the “self” or the “other.” The results showed that only the left supplementary motor area (SMA) was selectively activated during self-relevant judgments of death-related words. Regression analyses of the effect of fear of death on brain activation during death-related thoughts identified a significant negative linear correlation in the right supramarginal gyrus (SMG) and an inverted-U-shaped correlation in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) only during self-relevant judgments. Our results suggest potential involvement of the SMA in the existential aspect of thoughts of death. The distinct fear-of-death-dependent responses in the SMG and PCC may reflect fear-associated distancing of the physical self and the processing of death-related thoughts as a self-relevant future agenda, respectively.

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

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society ◽

10.1017/s1355617702801424 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 8 (5) ◽

pp. 691-698 ◽

Cited By ~ 76

Author(s):

Christina Öberg ◽

Maria Larsson ◽

Lars Bäckman

Keyword(s):

Sex Difference ◽

Odor Identification ◽

Intensity Discrimination ◽

Verbal Processing ◽

Sex Effects ◽

Odor Memory ◽

Sensory Acuity ◽

Odor Naming ◽

Odor Sensitivity

AbstractWe 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.

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Brain activation during thoughts of one’s own death and its linear and curvilinear correlations with fear of death in elderly individuals: An fMRI study

10.31234/osf.io/f49w3 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Kanan Hirano ◽

Kentaro Oba ◽

Toshiki Saito ◽

Shohei Yamazaki ◽

Ryuta Kawashima ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Brain Activation ◽

Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽

Fear Of Death ◽

Brain Responses ◽

Fmri Study ◽

Negative Linear Correlation ◽

The Right ◽

Older Populations ◽

The Brain ◽

Existential Issues

Facing one’s own death and managing the fear of it are important existential issues, particularly in older populations. Although recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have investigated brain responses to death-related stimuli, none has examined whether the brain activation was specific to self-death or how it was related to the fear of death. In this study, during the fMRI measurements, 34 elderly participants (aged 60–72) were presented with either death-related or death-unrelated negative words and asked to evaluate these words based on their relevance to ‘self’ or ‘other’. Result showed that only the left supplementary motor area (SMA) was selectively activated during self-relevant judgments on death-related words. Regression analyses of the effect of fear of death on brain activation during death-related thoughts identified a significant negative linear correlation in the right supramarginal gyrus (SMG) and an inverted-U-shaped correlation in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) only during self-relevant judgments. Our results demonstrated the involvement of the SMA in existential aspect within thoughts of death. The distinct fear-of-death-dependent responses in the SMG and PCC may reflect fear-associated distancing of the physical self and the processing of death-related thoughts as a self-relevant future agenda, respectively.

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Assessment of Olfactory Memory in Olfactory Dysfunction

Perception ◽

10.1177/0301006616683201 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 46 (3-4) ◽

pp. 516-529 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Kathrin Kollndorfer ◽

Johanna Reichert ◽

Josephine Braunsteiner ◽

Veronika Schöpf

Keyword(s):

Memory Performance ◽

Memory Function ◽

Memory Test ◽

Odor Identification ◽

Olfactory Perception ◽

Olfactory Memory ◽

Memory Tests ◽

Additional Information ◽

Odor Memory ◽

Perceptual Test

To assess all clinically relevant components of olfactory perception, examinations for olfactory sensitivity, discrimination, and identification are performed. Besides the standard perceptual test battery, episodic olfactory memory might offer additional information about olfactory abilities relative to these standard clinical tests. As both olfactory deficits and memory deficits are early symptoms in neurodegenerative disorders, olfactory memory may be of particular interest. However, to date little is known about episodic olfactory memory performance in patients with decreased olfactory function. This study includes the investigation of olfactory memory performance in 14 hyposmic patients (8 female, mean age 52.6 years) completing two episodic odor memory tests (Sniffin’ Test of Odor Memory and Odor Memory Test). To control for a general impairment in memory function, a verbal and a figural memory test were carried out. A regression model with multiple predictors was calculated for both odor memory tests separately. Odor identification was identified as the only significant predictor for both odor memory tasks. From our results, we conclude that currently available olfactory memory tests are highly influenced by odor identification abilities, implying the need for the development and validation of additional tests in this field which could serve as additional olfactory perception variables for clinical assessment.

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