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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2010 Nov;35(9):823-9.
doi: 10.1093/chemse/bjq086. Epub 2010 Sep 21.

Dynamics of nasal irritation from pulsed homologous alcohols

Paul M Wise  1 , Kai Zhao, Charles J Wysocki
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Dynamics of nasal irritation from pulsed homologous alcohols

Paul M Wise et al. Chem Senses. 2010 Nov.

Abstract

Relatively, few studies have focused on how nasal irritation changes over time. To simulate the rhythm of natural respiration, subjects received 3-s pulses of volatile organic compounds interspersed with 3-s pulses of clean air. Each trial, subjects received 9 pulses of a chemical vapor over about 1 min. Subjects rated nasal irritation from each pulse using magnitude estimation. Within a trial, compound and concentration were fixed. Compound (ethanol, n-butanol, or n-hexanol) and concentration (4 levels for each compound) varied across trials. For all stimuli, rated irritation decreased over time (adaptation). Plots of log-rated intensity versus elapsed time were approximately linear (intensity decreased by a fixed ratio per unit time). Interestingly, the slopes of intensity versus time functions differed very little: Regardless of concentration and compound, rated irritation decreased by about 32% over the 9 pulses. The basic mechanism of short-term adaptation may be the same for the 3 alcohols studied. Regardless, these data suggest that very simple models might be able to describe some aspects of perceptual dynamics quite well.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Time course of a trial. Trials lasted 54 s, with cycles of 3 s of VOC-laden air followed by 3 s of clean air (or, for blanks, 3 s of clean air followed by 3 s of clean air). Subjects rated the intensity of nasal irritation from each VOC pulse via magnitude estimation.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Ratings of intensity as a function of pulse number (elapsed time) and concentration. x axis: pulse number (elapsed time). y Axis: log-rated intensity (“2” is the value assigned to a standard of 12.5% v/v ethanol). (A) Ethanol. (B) n-Butanol. (C) n-hexanol. In each graph, the 4 data series represent different stimulus concentrations. The lines represent linear fits (least squares regression) to functions of log intensity versus pulse number. Error bars represent standard errors of the means.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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