Introduction

Odor imagery is known to be more difficult than any other modality of sensory imagery. Consequently, wide between-individuals variability can be found in odor imagery ability. Several studies have shown a positive relationship between olfactory performance and odor imagery ability. In the light of factors known to influence smelling ability, this study therefore investigated the effects of two factors — gender and age — known to influence smelling ability, on self-declared odor imagery ability in normosmic individuals.

Methods

Seven hundred and nine French participants were asked to complete the web version of the French Vividness of Olfactory Imagery Questionnaire (fVOIQ). General linear models were used to determine the contributions of gender and age to odor imagery vividness scores. Moreover, scores were compared between age intervals ranging from 18–30 years old to 60 + years old.

Results

Our findings reveal that at any age, men and women have the same odor imagery ability. Odor imagery ability in self-declared normosmic individuals improves with age until 50–60 years old, and beyond this point the often-reported age-related olfactory decay does not alter it.

Conclusions

These findings suggest a high contribution of daily olfactory experience to the development of this cognitive function, and a relationship with olfactory performance that appears less linear than hypothesized.

Implications

This study provides food for thought in the field of olfaction: it suggests that distinct mechanisms may underlie two cognitive processes, perception and sensory imagery.

中文翻译：

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性别和年龄对自我报告的气味意象能力的影响

介绍

众所周知，气味图像比任何其他形式的感官图像都更困难。因此，可以在气味图像能力中找到广泛的个体间差异。一些研究表明嗅觉表现和气味图像能力之间存在正相关关系。鉴于已知会影响嗅觉能力的因素，因此本研究调查了已知会影响嗅觉能力的两个因素——性别和年龄——对正常个体自我声明的气味图像能力的影响。

方法

709名法国参与者被要求完成法国生动的嗅觉图像问卷(fVOIQ) 的网络版本。一般线性模型用于确定性别和年龄对气味图像生动性得分的贡献。此外，还比较了从 18-30 岁到 60 岁以上的年龄区间的分数。

结果

我们的研究结果表明，在任何年龄，男性和女性都具有相同的气味图像能力。自称正常个体的气味图像能力随着年龄的增长而提高，直到 50-60 岁，超过这一点，经常报告的与年龄相关的嗅觉衰退并没有改变它。

结论

这些发现表明，日常嗅觉体验对这种认知功能的发展有很大贡献，并且与嗅觉表现的关系似乎不如假设的线性。

影响

这项研究为嗅觉领域提供了思考的食物：它表明不同的机制可能是两个认知过程的基础，感知和感觉意象。