Revisiting the relation between language and cognition:A Cross-cultural Study with odors

Nous avons étudié la relation entre la codabilité des odeurs et leur représentation en mémoire dans trois groupes culturels, français, américain et vietnamien. Dans une première expérience, nous avons demandé à des participants des trois cultures d’identifier par deux fois un ensemble de 40 odorants. A partir de cette tâche, nous avons calculé la codabilité de chacun des 40 odorants. Dans une deuxième expérience, nous avons demandé à un autre groupe de participants de chaque culture de réaliser une tâche de reconnaissance par oui/non sur le même ensemble d’odorants. Les résultats de l’expérience 1 suggèrent que la codabilité des odeurs (1) est une dimension pertinente car certaines odeurs sont plus codables que d’autres au sein d’une même culture, (2) peut être mesurée de manière équivalente par des indices d’accords intra et interpersonnels, et (3) varie entre les cultures en fonction de l’environnement olfactif et de la structure du langage. Les résultats de l’expérience 2 montrent que les scores de codabilité en France prédisent les performances de mémoire de reconnaissance dans les trois cultures mais que les scores aux Etats-Unis et au Vietnam n’en prédisent aucun des scores de reconnaissances.We investigated the relationship between odor codability and odor memory representation in three cultural groups: French, American, and Vietnamese. In a first experiment, we asked participants from the three cultures to identify twice a set of 40 common odorants. From this task, we computed the codability of each of the 40 odorants. In a second experiment, we asked another group of participants from each culture to perform a yes/no recognition task on the same set of odorants. Results from Experiment 1 suggest that odor codability (1) is a meaningful dimension because some odors are more codable than others within a culture, (2) is equivalently measurable by several inter- and intrapersonal agreement indices, and (3) varies between cultures as a function of both the olfactory environment and language structure. Results from Experiment 2 show that the French codability scores predict recognition memory performance in all three cultures but that the American and Vietnamese codability scores predict none of the recognition performances

Development and validation of a new instrument to measure perceived risks associated with the use of tobacco and nicotine-containing products

Making tobacco products associated with lower risks available to smokers who would otherwise continue smoking is recognized as an important strategy towards addressing smoking-related harm. Predicting use behavior is an important major component of product risk assessment. In this context, risk perception is a possible factor driving tobacco product uptake and use. As prior to market launch real-world actual product use cannot be observed, assessing risk perception can provide predictive information. Considering the lack of suitable validated self-report instruments, the development of a new instrument was undertaken to quantify perceived risks of tobacco and nicotine-containing products by adult smokers, former smokers and never-smokers. Initial items were constructed based on a literature review, focus groups and expert opinion. Data for scale formation and assessment were obtained through two successive US-based web surveys (n=2020 and 1640 completers, respectively). Psychometric evaluation was based on Rasch Measurement Theory and Classical Test Theory. Psychometric evaluation supported the formation of an 18-item Perceived Health Risk scale and a 7-item Perceived Addiction Risk scale: item response option thresholds were ordered correctly for all items; item locations in each scale were spread out (coverage range 75-87%); scale reliability was supported by high person separation indices > 0.93, Cronbach's alpha > 0.98 and Corrected Item-Total Correlations > 0.88; and no differential item functioning was present. Construct validity evaluations met expectations through inter-scale correlations and findings from known-group comparisons. The Perceived Risk Instrument is a psychometrically robust instrument applicable for general and personal risk perception measurement, for use in different types of products (including cigarettes, nicotine replacement therapy, potential Modified Risk Tobacco Products), and for different status groups (i.e., current smokers with and without intention to quit, former smokers, never smokers)

Mapping the Semantic Space for the Subjective Experience of Emotional Responses to Odors

Two studies were conducted to examine the nature of the verbal labels that describe emotional effects elicited by odors. In Study 1, a list of terms selected for their relevance to describe affective feelings induced by odors was assessed while participants were exposed to a set of odorant samples. The data were submitted to a series of exploratory factor analyses to 1) reduce the set of variables to a smaller set of summary scales and 2) get a preliminary sense of the differentiation of affective feelings elicited by odors. The goal of Study 2 was to replicate the findings of Study 1 with a larger sample of odorant samples and participants and to validate the preliminary model obtained in Study 1 by using confirmatory factor analysis. Overall, the findings point to a structure of affective responses to odors that differs from the classical taxonomies of emotion such as posited by discrete or bidimensional emotion theories. These findings suggest that the subjective affective experiences or feelings induced by odors are structured around a small group of dimensions that reflect the role of olfaction in well-being, social interaction, danger prevention, arousal or relaxation sensations, and conscious recollection of emotional memorie

Emotional Processing of Odors: Evidence for a Nonlinear Relation between Pleasantness and Familiarity Evaluations

Pleasantness, familiarity, and intensity are 3 interdependent dimensions commonly used to describe the perceived qualities of an odor. In particular, many empirical studies have demonstrated a positive correlation between familiarity and pleasantness. However, on the basis of both theoretical and methodological perspectives, we questioned the validity of such a relation for malodors. We report 2 studies based on subjective judgments of a large sample of odorants (Experiment 1) associated with autonomic recordings (Experiment 2). Multivariate exploratory analysis performed on the data splits the whole odorant set into 2 subsets composed, respectively, of unpleasant and pleasant odorants. Subsequent correlation analyses have shown that the relation between pleasantness and familiarity is specific for the pleasant odors in the 2 experiments. Moreover, autonomic activity was more important in response to malodors than to pleasant odors and was significantly correlated with unpleasantness ratings in the subset of unpleasant odors. These 2 studies argue in favor of a functional dissociation in the relations between both subjective and autonomic responses to odors as a function of pleasantness and indicate that researchers in the olfactory domain should consider the relations between pleasantness and familiarity as more complex than linea

Developing fit-for-purpose self-report instruments for assessing consumer responses to tobacco and nicotine products: the ABOUT™ Toolbox initiative [version 1; referees: 2 approved]

Background. Determining the public health impact of tobacco harm reduction strategies requires the assessment of consumer perception and behavior associated with tobacco and nicotine products (TNPs) with different exposure and risk profiles. In this context, rigorous methods to develop and validate psychometrically sound self-report instruments to measure consumers’ responses to TNPs are needed. Methods. Consistent with best practice guidelines, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s “Guidance for Industry Patient-Reported Outcome Measures: Use in Medical Product Development to Support Labeling Claims,” scientifically designed, fit-for-purpose, reliable, and valid instruments are now being applied to tobacco regulatory research. Results. This brief report presents the ABOUT™ Toolbox (Assessment of Behavioral OUtcomes related to Tobacco and nicotine products) initiative. This communication: (1) describes the methodological steps followed for the development and validation of the measurement instruments included in the ABOUT™ Toolbox, (2) presents a summary of the high-priority tobacco-related domains that are currently covered in the ABOUT™ Toolbox (i.e., risk perception, dependence, product experience, health and functioning, and use history), and (3) details how the measurement instruments are made accessible to the scientific community. Conclusions. By making the ABOUT™ Toolbox available to the tobacco research and public health community, we envision a rapidly expanding knowledge base, with the goals of (1) supporting consumer perception and behavior research to allow comparisons across a wide spectrum of TNPs, (2) enabling public health and regulatory communities to make better-informed decisions for future regulation of TNPs, and (3) enhancing surveillance activities associated with the impact of TNPs on population health

When Flexibility Is Stable: Implicit Long-Term Shaping of Olfactory Preferences

Preferences are traditionally assumed to be stable. However, empirical evidence such as preference modulation following choices calls this assumption into question. The evolution of such postchoice preference over long time spans, even when choices have been explicitly forgotten, has so far not been studied. In two experiments, we investigated this question by using a variant of the free choice paradigm: In a first session, participants evaluated the pleasantness of a number of odors. We then formed pairs of similarly rated odors, and asked participants to choose their favorite, for each pair. Participants were then presented with all odors again, and asked for another pleasantness rating. In a second session 1 week later, a third pleasantness rating was obtained, and participants were again asked to choose between the same options. Results suggested postchoice preference modulation immediately and 1 week after choice for both chosen and rejected options, even when choices were not explicitly remembered. A third experiment, using another paradigm, confirmed that choice can have a modulatory impact on preferences, and that this modulation can be long-lasting. Taken together, these findings suggest that although preferences appear to be flexible because they are modulated by choices, this modulation also appears to be stable over time and even without explicit recollection of the choice. These results bring a new argument to the idea that postchoice preference modulation could rely on implicit mechanisms, and are consistent with the recent proposal that cognitive dissonance reduction could to some extent be implicit