No pain, no gain: Olfactory plasticity through classical conditioning
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1
Monell Chemical Senses Center, United States
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2
Uppsala University, Department of Psychology, Sweden
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3
University of Pennsylvania, Department of Psychology, United States
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4
Karolinska Institute, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Sweden
Although the olfactory sense demonstrates a high degree of adult neuronal plasticity, the functional benefits thereof remain a matter of debate. We explored whether aversive conditioning of an odorant may enhance absolute detection threshold in a target-specific manner. Using a between-groups design, participants were exposed to brief pulses of two indiscriminable enantiomer pairs (odorants A1, A2; B1, B2 ) by means of air dilution olfactometry; a weak electric shock was paired with either odorant A1 (experimental group) or B1 (control group). Olfactory detection threshold for A1, as well as skin conductance responses (SCR) for all odorants, was measured before and after conditioning in both groups. In each group, elevated SCR were observed only in response to conditioned stimuli, thus demonstrating successful conditioning. Neither the pre-conditioning A1 detection threshold nor ratings of shock intensity during conditioning differed between groups. A repeated measures ANOVA demonstrated a significant interaction between groups and pre-/post-conditioning A1 detection thresholds; the Experimental group demonstrated a significant increase and the Control group a significant post-conditioning sensitivity decrease, relative to pre-conditioning. Re-testing of A1 olfactory sensitivity two months post-conditioning indicated no difference between the two groups. Taken together, these data demonstrate that the olfactory system exhibits rapid plasticity with the functional benefit of a sharp, odorant-specific increase in absolute detection threshold.
Conference:
Summer School on Human Olfaction, Dresden, Germany, 19 Jul - 25 Jul, 2009.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
Abstracts
Citation:
Gordon
AR,
Åhs
F and
Lundström
JN
(2009). No pain, no gain: Olfactory plasticity through classical conditioning.
Conference Abstract:
Summer School on Human Olfaction.
doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.12.006
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Received:
22 Jul 2009;
Published Online:
22 Jul 2009.
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Correspondence:
Amy R Gordon, Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, United States, amy.gordon@ki.se