Right-nostril advantage for discrimination of odors

Olfactory discrimination was tested with eight pairs of odors presented to each nostril of each subject. Ninety-nine subjects were tested; there were equal numbers of left- and right-handers, as well as both sexes. Detection thresholds for phenylethyl alcohol were measured separately in each nostril using a forced-choice staircase procedure. In addition, a verbal dichotic listening test known to be sensitive to language lateralization was administered. Results indicated that discrimination performance was significantly better when the stimuli were presented to the right nostril than when they were presented to the left, but no differences between the nostrils in detection thresholds were found. The right-nostril advantage did not vary as a function of sex or handedness, and did not bear any relation to language lateralization as measured via dichotic listening. The asymmetry for olfactory discrimination replicates an earlier study and is interpreted in terms of a possible specialization of function within the right cerebral hemisphere.