Chapter 1. Is there a measurement system for odour quality?
Although humans can discriminate a huge number of odours, the mechanisms behind the perception of odours are not well understood. The theory of the present essay and our experiments were developed with the view that odours are homogeneous perceptions (as opposed to visual objects that are heterogeneous percepts). Other typical examples of homogeneous perceptions are colours and some emotional states. Thus, through perceptual learning, which is a prerequisite for perceiving, we become aware of and may recognise odours in the environment. Typically, odours are detected at very low concentrations as compared to chemical instruments, the “electronic nose” inclusive. Four principles of investigating the human world of odour qualities are discussed: (i) classification and sorting according to odour-quality resemblance, (ii) using names and verbal attributes for odour sources, (iii) using odour qualities for a representative set of reference odorants, and (iv) measuring odour quality by similarity scaling of pairs of odorous stimuli. Although a huge number of odours can be discriminated, the quality of odour mixtures is intermediary among the odour qualities of their components. This applies to single chemical compounds or mixtures thereof and for very broadband mixtures like indoor air. Our perceptual world simply consists of a massive amount of odour qualities potentially attributable to sources in the environment. Their organisation is, however, still a mystery.
Cited by (3)
Cited by three other publications
Kaeppler, Kathrin
2019.
How Differences in Ratings of Odors and Odor Labels Are Associated with Identification Mechanisms.
Chemosensory Perception 12:1
► pp. 18 ff.
Keller, Andreas
2016.
Perceptual Quality Space. In
Philosophy of Olfactory Perception,
► pp. 7 ff.
Lindqvist, Anna, Anders Höglund & Birgitta Berglund
2012.
The Role of Odour Quality in the Perception of Binary and Higher-Order Mixtures.
Perception 41:11
► pp. 1373 ff.
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