INFORMATION PROCESSING IN CHEMOSENSORY EXPERIENCE

本提案的总体目标是了解个人的 化学品暴露的经验一方面与 由于暴露于挥发性物质而产生的感觉和生理信号 另一方面，与心理过程有关， 感知记忆和判断 拟议的研究追求这一点 目标通过使用化学感觉的信息处理分析 作为一个统一的框架。 这样的分析试图描述 个人如何处理、联合收割机和解释 来自化学感觉的（感觉）和次级（生理）信号 暴露和了解某些变量，如个性， 注意和记忆提取策略，归因 倾向，在反应中产生变化。三个具体目标 建议的研究是：（1）检查的作用，选择 产生反应差异的先行、基于主题的因素 挥发性有机化合物（VOC）暴露，特别是， 预先存在的性格因素，如消极的情感和 预先存在的处理结构或心理模型;（2）检查 情境因素在产生VOC响应变化中的作用 暴露，具体来说，教学操纵的作用，多- 任务处理，以及指导内容和方向的社会线索 注意在暴露于挥发性化合物;和，（3）检查 归因（和错误归因）在唤醒中的作用 响应于VOC暴露而产生变化，具体地， 弥漫性觉醒的程度往往被偏见地归因于 挥发性有机化合物暴露。 这项研究将增加我们对人类遗传变异的了解。 化学感觉知觉 它对以下努力具有重要意义： 减轻人们对室内挥发性化合物的不良反应， 室外空气，并且它可以特别用于解决 妇女对低浓度化学品产生不良反应的发生率较高 暴露。 结果还可以提供评估所需的信息 响应的轨迹（即，感官、生理、心理）， 挥发物，目前提倡作为替代疗法。

The overall goal of this proposal is to understand how an individual's experience of chemical exposure is related on the one hand to the sensory and physiological signals resulting from exposures to volatile compounds and on the other hand to psychological processes involved in perception, memory, and judgment. The proposed research pursue this goal by using an information-processing analysis of chemosensory perception as a unifying framework. Such an analysis seeks to describe how individuals process, combine, and interpret both the primary (sensory) and secondary (physiological) signals from chemosensory exposure and to understand how certain variables, such as personality factors, attentional and memory-retrieval strategies, and attributional tendencies, produce variations in the response. The three specific aims of the proposed research are: (1) to examine the role of selected antecedent, subject-based factors in producing variations in response to volatile organic compound (VOC) exposure, specifically, the roles of pre-existing dispositional factors such as negative affectivity and of pre-existing processing structures or mental models; (2) to examine the role of situational factors in producing variations in response to VOC exposures, specifically, the roles of instructional manipulation, multi- task processing, and social cues that guide the content and direction of attention during exposure to a volatile compound; and, (3) to examine the role of attributions (and misattributions) pertaining to arousal in producing variations in response to VOC exposure, specifically, the degree to which diffuse arousal tends to be prejudicially attributed to VOC exposure. The research will increase our understanding of the variation in human chemosensory perception. It has important implications for efforts to alleviate people's adverse responses to volatile compounds in indoor and outdoor air, and it may be of particular utility for addressing the higher incidence among women of adverse responses to low-level chemical exposures. The results can also provide information needed to evaluate the locus of responses (i.e., sensory, physiological, psychological) to volatiles that are currently advocated as alternative therapies.