Deck 14: Chemical Senses L: Smell

Question 1

Which senses are sometimes referred to as the "chemical senses?"

A) sight and hearing
B) taste and smell
C) touch and smell
D) smell and hearing

Answer 1

taste and smell

Question 2

The sense of smell is also known as

A) gustation.
B) olfaction.
C) nasaction.
D) kinesthesis.

Answer 2

olfaction.

Question 3

Research has indicated that

A) people can determine a person's sex from hand odor.
B) people can determine a person's sex from breath odor.
C) males are somewhat superior to females in judging sex from odor.
D) both people can determine a person's sex from hand odor and people can determine a person's sex from breath odor.

Answer 3

both people can determine a person's sex from hand odor and people can determine a person's sex from breath odor.

Question 4

The percentage of accuracy for distinguishing sex based on the odor of hands, as determined by Patricia Wallace (1977), is

A) 20.
B) 40.
C) 60.
D) 80.

Question 5

If you had to monitor a video screen for a briefly presented visual target appearing unpredictably over time, your performance would be improved most by the smell of

A) peppermint.
B) bergamot .
C) freshly baked bread .
D) roses.

Question 6

Animal odors that appear to be important in mate identification and selection are called

A) pheromones,
B) endorphins,
C) genderophins,
D) estrogens,

Question 7

Which of the following is NOT considered a function of odors?

A) act as bait
B) influence sexual behavior
C) use as a defensive weapon
D) All of these are functions of odors.

Question 8

Butter sitting in the refrigerator will take on the smell of

A) fat-soluble volatile molecules.
B) water-soluble volatile molecules.
C) fat-soluble nonvolatile molecules.
D) water-soluble nonvolatile molecules.

Question 9

Which of the following is NOT a prerequisite to being odorous?

A) must be volatile
B) must be fat soluble
C) must be a combination of the principal qualities identified by Henning
D) All of these are prerequisites.

Question 10

Henning's smell prism for categorizing odors

A) is based on categorizing odors into six types.
B) holds that all odors can be described as a combination of basic or principal odors.
C) both is based on categorizing odors into six types and holds that all odors can be described as a combination of basic or principal odors.
D) neither is based on categorizing odors into six types nor holds that all odors can be described as a combination of basic or principal odors.

Question 11

Which of the following is not a principal quality of Henning's smell prism?

A) putrid
B) resinous
C) tepid
D) burnt

Question 12

If you wanted to develop a map that indicated the direction and magnitude of similarities among a large number of different odors your best choice of technique would be

A) the method of adjustment.
B) multidimensional scaling.
C) magnitude estimation.
D) the method of iconology.

Question 13

Odors that smell alike appear to have

A) similar molecular shapes.
B) similar molecular weights.
C) similar solubility in water
D) none of these.

Question 14

The nasal cycle is

A) the turnover of olfactory sensory neurons.
B) synchronization of menstrual cycles through odors.
C) variation in neural activity throughout an inhalation.
D) alternating resistance to the inflow of air in each nostril.

Question 15

It is believed that humans have approximately ____________ olfactory sensory neurons.

A) 1-2 million
B) 3-4 million
C) 40-50 million
D) 200 million

Question 16

Which of the following statements is true of olfactory receptor cells?

A) Dogs have more of them than humans.
B) They live only about five to eight weeks.
C) They can grow new axons to reach their target site in the brain.
D) All of these are true.

Question 17

The life expectancy of an olfactory receptor neuron is thought to be

A) five to eight weeks.
B) six months.
C) two years.
D) equal to the life expectancy of the individual.

Question 18

If you have difficulty smelling a particular substance but not most others

A) you have a specific anosmia.
B) your difficulty is probably genetic in origin.
C) you probably have some brain damage.
D) both you have a specific anosmia and your difficulty is probably genetic in origin.

Question 19

What theory/theories has/have been proposed to account for humans' poor olfactory sensitivity compared to that of other mammals?

A) relatively few olfactory receptors
B) relatively small olfactory epithelium
C) development of color vision
D) all of these

Question 20

It is estimated that there are __________ receptor cell axons for each second-order neuron in the olfactory bulb.

A) 4,000
B) 1,000
C) 100
D) 5

Question 21

Neural activity in the olfactory bulb of an animal is enhanced if that animal is

A) hungry.
B) thirsty.
C) fearful.
D) all of these

Question 22

During normal breathing, _______ percent of the odorous molecules entering the nostrils actually make it to receptors.

A) 0
B) 2
C) 25
D) 72

Question 23

An olfactometer is a device to measure the

A) size of the olfactory epithelium.
B) size of the turbinates.
C) sensitivity to different odorants.
D) all of these

Question 24

If you wanted to be sure that someone smelled a natural gas leak, which of the following would you add to the gas?

A) mercaptan
B) carbon tetrachloride
C) carbon dioxide
D) helium

Question 25

Which of the following is thought NOT to influence odor detection/sensitivity?

A) time of day
B) age of the perceiver
C) gender of the perceiver
D) All of these influence odor detection.

Question 26

The person most likely to detect an odor is

A) a young adult male in the evening
B) an elderly male in the morning.
C) a young adult female in the morning.
D) an elderly adult female in the morning.

Question 27

Repeated exposure to an odorant can lead to

A) diminished sensitivity.
B) enhanced sensitivity.
C) both diminished sensitivity and enhanced sensitivity.
D) neither diminished sensitivity nor enhanced sensitivity.

Question 28

The reason given in the text why the color of food might influence its smell is

A) response bias.
B) the difficulty in locating the source of an odor.
C) the color implies a verbal label.
D) some food dyes have their own odors.

Question 29

Which of the following is thought NOT to influence odor identification?

A) ambient air quality
B) age of the perceiver
C) sex of the perceiver
D) All of these influence odor identification.

Question 30

The ability to identify the source, or type, of odor

A) is limited by people's inability to distinguish one odor from another.
B) is improved by providing such cues as the source's color.
C) improves significantly with practice.
D) both is improved by providing such cues as the source's color and improves significantly with practice.

Question 31

Reduced ability of people with Parkinson's disease to identify different odors is likely caused by

A) weak sniffing.
B) damage to the olfactory pathway in the brain.
C) genetic susceptibility.
D) small turbinates.

Question 32

The coolness of menthol is detected by

A) nasal temperature receptors.
B) the common chemical sense.
C) odor-specific neurons.
D) feature detectors.

Question 33

Cigarette smokers, compared to nonsmokers, are

A) less sensitive to odors.
B) more sensitive to odors.
C) unable to sense odors.
D) less sensitive to only particular odors.

Question 34

To discriminate odors, Cain (1977) found that concentrations must differ by at least what percent?

A) 2
B) 7
C) 9
D) 12

Question 35

Sewer workers are able to carry out their work without being bothered too much by the stench. This is a result of

A) damage to parts of the brain associated with smell.
B) salary reinforcement associated with their work.
C) odor adaptation.
D) selective factors by which most people hired as sewer workers have a very poor sense of smell.

Question 36

In visual and olfactory imagery

A) brightness is analogous to smell intensity.
B) luminance is analogous to odor concentration.
C) contrast is analogous to odor concentration.
D) movement of the eyes is analogous to sniffing.

Question 37

Odor constancy occurs when perceived intensity of an odor remains constant despite changes in

A) depth of sniffing.
B) distance from the odor source.
C) color of the odor source.
D) concentration of the odor.

Question 38

Because some odors are sensed better when air flows past the olfactory epithelium slowly and others are sensed better when air flows past the olfactory epithelium quickly, the nasal cycle has been likened to

A) retinal disparity.
B) bistability.
C) visual masking.
D) the motion aftereffect.

Question 39

Considering specificity of memories,

A) olfactory is more than visual.
B) olfactory is the same as visual.
C) olfactory is less than visual.
D) it is impossible to compare olfactory with visual.

Question 40

Describe what is known about the sequence of events transpiring between inhalation of an odorant and arrival of neural impulses at the olfactory bulb.

Question 41

How is odor quality thought to be coded by the brain?

Question 42

Compare odor detection and odor identification.

Question 43

What is the tip-of-the-nose phenomenon?