Food odor perception during different times of day in males and females

Odor perception varies with gender, state of the subject, or context of when someone perceives an odor (Doty 1975; Moskowitz 1976). This is especially true for behavioral relevant odors such as food odors. But so far little is known about the influence of certain conditions of the subject when odors were evaluated, such as time of day and hunger levels. Therefore, in this study I aimed to observe whether correlations between pleasantness and intensity ratings of food odors differed for males and females. To do so, I examined pleasantness and intensity ratings taken from 4 different studies that were previously performed at the Kahnt Lab. An olfactometer was used to study the human reward system, decision making, and odor perception as people can love or hate certain food only by their odor. Preliminary results show that there is a positive correlation between pleasantness and intensity ratings, indicating that the value of an odor can be manipulated by changing its strength. There is no effect of gender in the ratings of the food odors however. Ongoing analyses will further evaluate the influence of the time of day, time not eaten, and hunger levels on these ratings