Sex differences in chemosensation: sensory or emotional?
Although the first sex-dependent differences in chemosensory processing were reported in the scientific literature over 60 years ago, the underlying mechanisms are still unknown. Generally, more pronounced sex-dependent differences are noted with increased task difficulty or with increased levels of...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2013
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| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3783851/ |
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pubmed-37838512013-10-16 Sex differences in chemosensation: sensory or emotional? Ohla, Kathrin Lundström, Johan N. Neuroscience Although the first sex-dependent differences in chemosensory processing were reported in the scientific literature over 60 years ago, the underlying mechanisms are still unknown. Generally, more pronounced sex-dependent differences are noted with increased task difficulty or with increased levels of intranasal irritation produced by the stimulus. Whether differences between the sexes arise from differences in chemosensory sensitivity of the two intranasal sensory systems involved or from differences in cognitive processing associated with emotional evaluation of the stimulants is still not known. We used simultaneous and complementary measures of electrophysiological (EEG), psychophysiological, and psychological responses to stimuli varying in intranasal irritation and odorousness to investigate whether sex differences in the processing of intranasal irritation are mediated by varying sensitivity of the involved sensory systems or by differences in cognitive and/or emotional evaluation of the irritants. Women perceived all stimulants more irritating and they exhibited larger amplitudes of the late positive deflection of the event-related potential than men. No significant differences in sensory sensitivity, anxiety, and arousal responses could be detected. Our findings suggest that men and women process intranasal irritation differently. Importantly, the differences cannot be explained by variation in sensory sensitivity to irritants, differences in anxiety, or differences in physiological arousal. We propose that women allocate more attention to potentially noxious stimuli than men do, which eventually causes differences in cognitive appraisal and subjective perception. Frontiers Media S.A. 2013-09-26 /pmc/articles/PMC3783851/ /pubmed/24133429 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00607 Text en Copyright © 2013 Ohla and Lundström. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
| repository_type |
Open Access Journal |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
US National Center for Biotechnology Information |
| building |
NCBI PubMed |
| collection |
Online Access |
| language |
English |
| format |
Online |
| author |
Ohla, Kathrin Lundström, Johan N. |
| spellingShingle |
Ohla, Kathrin Lundström, Johan N. Sex differences in chemosensation: sensory or emotional? |
| author_facet |
Ohla, Kathrin Lundström, Johan N. |
| author_sort |
Ohla, Kathrin |
| title |
Sex differences in chemosensation: sensory or emotional? |
| title_short |
Sex differences in chemosensation: sensory or emotional? |
| title_full |
Sex differences in chemosensation: sensory or emotional? |
| title_fullStr |
Sex differences in chemosensation: sensory or emotional? |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Sex differences in chemosensation: sensory or emotional? |
| title_sort |
sex differences in chemosensation: sensory or emotional? |
| description |
Although the first sex-dependent differences in chemosensory processing were reported in the scientific literature over 60 years ago, the underlying mechanisms are still unknown. Generally, more pronounced sex-dependent differences are noted with increased task difficulty or with increased levels of intranasal irritation produced by the stimulus. Whether differences between the sexes arise from differences in chemosensory sensitivity of the two intranasal sensory systems involved or from differences in cognitive processing associated with emotional evaluation of the stimulants is still not known. We used simultaneous and complementary measures of electrophysiological (EEG), psychophysiological, and psychological responses to stimuli varying in intranasal irritation and odorousness to investigate whether sex differences in the processing of intranasal irritation are mediated by varying sensitivity of the involved sensory systems or by differences in cognitive and/or emotional evaluation of the irritants. Women perceived all stimulants more irritating and they exhibited larger amplitudes of the late positive deflection of the event-related potential than men. No significant differences in sensory sensitivity, anxiety, and arousal responses could be detected. Our findings suggest that men and women process intranasal irritation differently. Importantly, the differences cannot be explained by variation in sensory sensitivity to irritants, differences in anxiety, or differences in physiological arousal. We propose that women allocate more attention to potentially noxious stimuli than men do, which eventually causes differences in cognitive appraisal and subjective perception. |
| publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
| publishDate |
2013 |
| url |
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3783851/ |
| _version_ |
1612014469984026624 |