Search results for "olfaction"
showing 10 items of 251 documents
Testing <em>Drosophila</em> Olfaction with a Y-maze Assay
2014
Detecting signals from the environment is essential for animals to ensure their survival. To this aim, they use environmental cues such as vision, mechanoreception, hearing, and chemoperception through taste, via direct contact or through olfaction, which represents the response to a volatile molecule acting at longer range. Volatile chemical molecules are very important signals for most animals in the detection of danger, a source of food, or to communicate between individuals. Drosophila melanogaster is one of the most common biological models for scientists to explore the cellular and molecular basis of olfaction. In order to highlight olfactory abilities of this small insect, we describ…
<Pheromones> and behaviour of rodents and primates
1987
Abstract This paper reviews the concept of the ≪pheromone≫ as applied to behavioural studies on mammals with particular emphasis on rodents and primates. It is concluded that although the olfactory sense is very important in many representatives of these orders, the term pheromone is often used too uncritically in such species. Odours may certainly change behaviour but: (a) it is difficult to identify complex specific chemicals underlying such effects; (b) the response often depends on the nature and experiences of the recipient animal; and (c) many behaviours in such animals are modulated by a variety of sensory inputs. Perhaps ≪sociochemical communication≫ would be a better term to apply …
Attractive properties of sexual pheromones in mice
2002
Abstract It is generally assumed that chemical signals (sexual pheromones) constitute the primary stimulus for sexual attraction in many mammals. However, it is unclear whether these pheromones are volatile or nonvolatile and which sensory systems are involved in their detection (vomeronasal and/or olfactory). Moreover, it has been demonstrated that experience influences the behavioral response to sexual pheromones and the sensory systems implicated. In order to clarify this issue, the attractive properties of volatile and nonvolatile components of the male-soiled bedding have been analyzed in female mice that had no previous experience with adult male-derived chemical signals (chemically n…
Early development of filial preferences in the rabbit: implications of nursing- and pheromone-induced odour learning?
2008
Newborn rabbits, Oryctolagus cuniculus, discriminate between different categories of adult conspecifics on the basis of their abdominal odour cues. Whether these cues can support the development of filial preferences has not been adequately tested. Using a two-choice paradigm, we assessed the ability of 3–8-day-old pups to orient selectively to the mother versus an unfamiliar female, either spontaneously or after odour conditioning. In experiment 1, nonconditioned pups roamed indifferently over the mother and an unfamiliar female. In experiment 2, pups conditioned to a neutral odorant while nursing or with the mammary pheromone became attracted by the odorant. In experiment 3, pups that had…
Pheromone-induced odour learning in newborn rabbits: action, development and adaptive function
2012
Communication orale; International audience
Semantic, Typicality and Odor Representation: A Cross-cultural Study
2005
This study investigated odor-category organization in three cultures by evaluating (i) the relationship between linguistic and perceptual categorization and (ii) the existence of an internal structure of odor categories. In the first experiment, three groups of 30 participants from American, French and Vietnamese cultures performed a sorting task. The first group sorted 40 odorants on the basis of odor similarity, the second group sorted 40 odor names on the basis of name similarity and the last group sorted 40 odor names on the basis of imagined odor similarity. Results showed that odor categorization was based on perceptual or conceptual similarity and was in part independent of word and …
Le flair en images, ou comment est donnée à voir la communication olfactive
2016
How is the action of sniffing others, which has been depreciated by good manners and aesthetic standards, represented in pictures? In unveiling the theme of social sniffing, this essay aims to track variations around the odour of the body and olfactory communication in Western visual arts. This issue implies to examine the social roles of sui generis as well as artefactual human odours, and to assess figurative arts as a means to unveil historical trends in the forms and functions of the sense of smell in our culture. The corpus of figurative works consulted, far from exhaustive, stretches from medieval and classical allegories of smell to the visual language of perfume advertisements, thro…
Peripheral olfactory function in rats after chemotherapeutic treatment with the anticancer drug docetaxel
2008
International audience; Clinical studies have documented that chemotherapeutic cancer treatment in humans is often associated with weight loss and decreased enjoyment of food. Beside taste, olfaction plays a role in the food intake regulation. We assessed whether hemotherapeutic cancer treatment compromises olfactory function in rats treated with docetaxel (Taxotere, TAX), an antineoplastic drug which disrupts the structures necessary for cell survival and division. Electroolfactogram responses (EOG) can indicate morpho-pathological changes in olfactory epithelium. Male rats received either a single, two or three intravenous injections (one per week) of an estimated 10% lethal dose (LD10) o…
Exposure to Androstenes Influences Processing of Emotional Words
2018
This article is part of the Research Topic 'The Importance of Olfaction in Intra- and Interspecific Communication'; International audience; There is evidence that human-produced androstenes affect attitudinal, emotional, and physiological states in a context-dependent manner, suggesting that they could be involved in modulating social interactions. For instance, androstadienone appears to increase attention specifically to emotional information. Most of the previous work focused on one or two androstenes. Here, we tested whether androstenes affect linguistic processing, using three different androstene compounds. Participants (90 women and 77 men) performed a lexical decision task after bei…
Evolution of olfactory responses in the first two years of life : effect of early exposures and link with food behaviour
2013
The role of taste on food preferences has already been investigated, however, little is known about the role of olfaction. The main objectives of this work were to assess infants’ olfactory responses, their dynamic during the first two years of life, and also their links with early food exposures, food liking and infants’ food neophobia. This work was conducted within a longitudinal study named OPALINE (Observatory of food preferences in infants and children). Olfactory responses were assessed, in 8-, 12- and 22-month-old infants, towards pleasant odours, such as vanilla, and unpleasant odours, such as fish. The results reveal that, from 8 months, infants can discriminate pleasant and unple…