There is a growing appreciation that experience with odors may strongly influence their perception. To further investigate this, the responses of 40 Japanese and 44 age-matched German women to everyday odorants were compared. Subjects were presented with 18 stimuli in squeeze bottles and asked to rate them according to intensity, familiarity pleasantness and edibility, to describe associations elicited by them and, if possible, to name them. One-third of the odorants were presumed to be familiar to the Japanese only, one-third to the Germans and one-third to both populations. Significant differences were found between the two populations on all measures. Better performance by the Japanese in providing appropriate descriptors for ‘Japanese’ odorants and by the Germans for ‘European’ odorants supported the pre-selection of stimuli as culture-typical. Particularly clear differences between the two populations were found in pleasantness ratings. In general, a positive relationship was found between pleasantness and judgement of stimuli as edible, suggesting that culture-specific experiences—particularly of foods—may significantly influence odor perception. Somewhat unexpectedly, significant differences were also found between the two populations in intensity ratings for some odorants. These differences did not seem simply to be artefacts of the test situation and raise the possibility that experience may even influence such basic aspects of odor perception as stimulus intensity.

In this study, 40 Japanese, 44 German and 39 Mexican women were presented with 18 everyday odorants. They were asked to rate them for intensity on a six-point scale from not detectable to very strong, for pleasantness on an 11-point scale from −5, to neutral at 0, to +5, and for familiarity on a six-point scale from completely unknown to extremely familiar. Consistent positive correlations were found between paired rating scores for the three measures, and although they were not particularly strong (r_s range, 0.19–0.60), for most odorants all three correlations were significant. Similar results were obtained whether the data were analyzed on an individual or a national basis. Most notable were the consistent positive correlations between perceived intensity and ratings of familiarity and hedonic strength. It is suggested that the perceived intensity of the odorants depended not only on stimulus concentration but probably also on experience-dependent factors.

Twenty congenitally anosmic subjects and 50 normosmic controls were tested for their ability (i) to assign verbal labels from a list of trigeminal-type descriptors to six odorants believed to have a strong trigeminal component; and (ii) to discriminate between intensity-matched pairs of these odorants in an odd-ball paradigm. The following was found: normosmic controls judged menthol and cineole as distinctly cool and fresh, acetic acid as pungent and sour, and acetone as pungent, but showed no clear descriptive profile for ethanol and propanol. The descriptive profiles given by the anosmic subjects correlated significantly with those given by the controls for three of the six odorants (menthol, cineol and ethanol), confirming that the sensations described may indeed be mediated by the trigeminal system. In the odd-ball test, the control subjects correctly identified an average of eight out of the nine items presented, with most mistakes occurring in response to pairs with a similar trigeminal profile. With an average of 7.2 of nine items correct, the performance of the anosmic subjects was not significantly different to that of the normosmics, except in discriminating between acetic acid and menthol. Although additional tests are necessary to decide finally whether differences in stimulus intensity may have contributed to this good discriminatory performance, the present results suggest that the nasal trigeminal system may contribute significantly to the perception of odor quality. Chem. Senses 22: 447–456, 1997.

Domestic rabbit pups (22 litters of 6 pups each) were raised in plexiglass nest boxes, and their behaviour was studied under various experimental conditions during the first 14 days of life. 1. Rabbit pups show a stereotyped pattern of behaviour closely associated with the once daily nursing visit of the doe until they start to leave the nest on day 13. 2. One to two hours before nursing pups group tightly together and become exposed from the nest material. In young litters these behaviours appear to improve access to the doe's belly and to shorten the time the doe spends in the nest. 3. Rabbit pups are unusual in that they display a vigorous burst of post-nursing activity, i.e. simultaneous urination followed by digging and burrowing around the nest. This activity is triggered by the nursing act and appears to contribute to thermoregulatory efficiency as an insulating cover is quickly regained. 4. Within about 30 minutes pups reaggregate and remain well covered until the next nursing time. 5. The anticipatory uncovering appears to represent a circadian rhythm, and not to be simply due to hunger, as demonstrated in isolated litters deprived of one nursing. 6. Presumably the less time wild does spend in the nursery burrow the less chance there is of predators trapping them or finding the young. The ability of the pups to anticipate the nursing and the their thermoregulatory self-sufficiency may contribute to shortening the time rabbit does must spend in the nest.