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Investigating Left- and Right-Nostril Olfactory Abilities with Respect to Psychopathy

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Chemosensory Perception

Abstract

Introduction

Evidence for olfactory lateralization is mixed, although a left-sided benefit for odor identification seems likely. Whether lateralization of function is moderated by variables such as gender and handedness has been previously explored. However, there has been no test of whether psychopathy and empathy—personality characteristics which may themselves affect lateralization and which can affect olfactory function—moderate olfactory lateralization.

Methods

Eighty men and women engaged in mono-rhinal testing for odor threshold, identification, and discrimination ability, as well as completing standardized measures of psychopathy and empathy.

Results and Discussion

While there was a clear left-sided benefit for odor identification and discrimination, we found no evidence that psychopathy or empathy moderated these effects. When the current data were combined with that from previous studies, we found that psychopathy was correlated with poorer odor discrimination and identification, whereas empathy was correlated with enhanced discrimination and identification, pointing to processing commonalities between olfaction, psychopathy, and empathy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Food, Flavour and Fragrance Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia

    Mehmet K. Mahmut & Richard J. Stevenson

Authors
  1. Mehmet K. Mahmut
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  2. Richard J. Stevenson
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Correspondence to Mehmet K. Mahmut.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008 (5).

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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Mahmut, M.K., Stevenson, R.J. Investigating Left- and Right-Nostril Olfactory Abilities with Respect to Psychopathy. Chem. Percept. 9, 131–140 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12078-016-9210-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12078-016-9210-6

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