Why is there a discrepancy between womens self-rating/report and psychophysical measures of olfactory perception?
There appears to be no clear correlation between self-rating or self-report and psychophysical measures of olfactory perception (odor identification, and intensity and hedonic ratings, in the case of the present study). This may be explained by several factors. First, the underlying psychometric function for odor detection may be steeper in pregnant women. Thus, a small change in concentration may lead to a large change in perception. Such a change would not necessarily be reflected in simple measures of threshold or the measures used in this study but would result in a change in odor perception. Second, self-rating and self-report result from cognitive processing, which may reflect different mechanisms than those involved in basic odor perception. Note that Kölble et al. (2001) argue that the change in olfaction during pregnancy may reflect a change in cognitive function. Finally, the discrepancy may be due, in part, to the fact that self-rating and self-report may reflect changes in
