Accounting for Subjectivity in Experimental Research on Human Olfaction.
Marylou Mantel, Jean-Michel Roy, Moustafa Bensafi
Chemical senses 2021 DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjaa082 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Neurophenomenology Olfaction Perception Subjective experience Variability |
| Citations | 9 |
| Key points | Argues that adapting methods from consciousness research to olfaction will allow rigorous acquisition of subjective reports, improving understanding of diversity in odor perception and its neural mechanisms. |
Abstract
Although olfaction is a modality with great interindividual perceptual disparities, its subjective dimension has been let aside in modern research, in line with the overall neglect of consciousness in experimental psychology. However, following the renewed interest for the neural bases of consciousness, some methodological leads have been proposed to include subjectivity in experimental protocols. Here, we argue that adapting such methods to the field of olfaction will allow to rigorously acquire subjective reports, and we present several ways to do so. This will improve the understanding of diversity in odor perception and its underlying neural mechanisms.