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Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Real-time In Vitro Monitoring of Odorant Receptor Activation by an Odorant in the Vapor Phase
Published on: April 23, 2019
Bad odors stick better than good ones: Olfactory qualities and odor recognition
Maria Larsson1, Christina Oberg-Blåvarg, Fredrik U Jönsson
1Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Sweden. maria.larsson@psychology.su.se
Abstract:
The influences of perceived odor qualities on the retention of olfactory information across the adult lifespan were examined. Young (19-36 years), young-old (60-74 years), and old (75-91 years) adults (n = 202) rated a set of unfamiliar odors across a series of perceptual dimensions (i.e., pleasantness, intensity, and irritability) at encoding. The overall results indicated that memory for unpleasant olfactory information was better than that for pleasant odors across the lifespan. Also, participants showed better retention for odors perceived with high intensity and irritability than for odors rated with low or medium scores. Interestingly, the old adults showed selective beneficial memory effects for odors rated as highly irritable. To the extent that perceptions of high irritability reflect an activation of the trigeminal sensory system, this finding suggests that older adults may use trigeminal components in odor information to compensate for age-related impairments in olfactory memory.
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