Chemosensory attention, habituation and detection in women and men

The aim of this study was to investigate whether there are differences between women and men in how chemosensory stimuli are processed. Event-related potentials from 36 participants (18 men) showed that women had larger P3 amplitudes when attending, but not when ignoring CO2 and amyl acetate stimuli compared with men. Conversely, auditory P3 was reduced by the same degree in women and men. No gender differences were found in magnitude estimations over time. Women had lower detection thresholds for CO2, but not for n-butanol, compared with men. The main finding was that women and men differ in cognitive measures of chemosensory processing.

Research Highlights► Women have larger P3 amplitudes when attending chemosensory stimuli than men. ► When ignoring chemosensory stimuli, there are no P3 gender differences. ► No such Attention x Gender interaction is found for auditory stimuli. ► There are no differences in the habituating response between women and men. ► Women have lower CO2, but not butanol detection thresholds than men.