Thresholds in Human Olfaction — Presentation Detail — Celebration of Scholars

Instructions

Student presentations must have a faculty sponsor.

Abstracts must include a title and a description of the research, scholarship, or creative work. The description should be 150-225 words in length and constructed in a format or style appropriate for the presenter’s discipline.

The following points should be addressed within the selected format or style for the abstract:

A clear statement of the problem or question you pursued, or the scholarly goal or creative theme achieved in your work.
A brief comment about the significance or uniqueness of the work.
A clear description of the methods used to achieve the purpose or goals for the work.
A statement of the conclusions, results, outcomes, or recommendations, or if the work is still in progress, the results you expect to report at the event.

Presenter photographs should be head and shoulder shots comparable to passport photos.

Additional Information

More information is available at carthage.edu/celebration-scholars/. The following are members of the Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Committee who are eager to listen to ideas and answer questions:

Jun Wang
Kim Instenes
John Kirk
Nora Nickels
Andrew Pustina
James Ripley

Thresholds in Human Olfaction

Name: Chloe Koeppen
Major: Psychology
Hometown: Milwaukee, WI
Faculty Sponsor: Leslie Cameron
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Senior thesis

Abstract

It is well known that there is little correlation between people’s sense of smell (olfaction), measured in the laboratory, and their self-rated sense of smell. Much less is known about people’s trial-by-trial confidence in olfactory tests. This study was designed to examine the relationship between performance on an olfactory test and self-rating and confidence judgements on individual trials. Further it will explore how personality may affect olfactory performance, self-rating and trial-by-trial confidence given that personality is correlated with sensory thresholds. In experiment 1, we measured sense of smell using the Method of Constant Stimuli which yields psychometric functions. In experiment 2, we measured sense of smell using the Staircase Method which yields an absolute threshold per participant. We expected to find that the hit rates would increase with concentration and that “notches” would exist at low concentrations. Also, confidence will increase with odor concentration. These data were analyzed with a one-way repeated measures ANOVA. We expected to find no correlation (Pearson-r) between overall performance and self-rated sense of smell. In accord with previous research, we expected performance to be positively correlated (Pearson-r) with neuroticism. The study's results add to our understanding of psychometric functions in olfaction. Confidence and self-rating may also be understood better in terms of neurotic personality traits.

Poster file