Introduction

Brain processing of odorants in different stages during adolescence is not well understood. This study aimed to investigate differences in brain processing of pleasant and unpleasant odors between adolescent girls at different ages.

Methods

Eleven girls aged 9–10 years and 20 girls aged 15–16 years participated in an fMRI study (1.5 T, repetition time 2.5 s) where two odorants (peach and n-butanol) were delivered passively to the participants’ nostrils. Psychophysical measurements for odor intensity, pleasantness, and familiarity were recorded.

Results

Compared to older ones, younger girls were less familiar with peach odor. Stronger brain activation of piriform cortex, amygdala, bilateral insular cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and dorsal striatum (caudate and putamen) was observed in younger vs. older girls, whereas in older girls there was no superior activation in olfactory regions as compared to younger participants.

Conclusion and Implication

The findings demonstrating differences of brain activation patterns between girls of two age groups may reflect olfactory perception development during adolescence.

中文翻译：

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年龄对青春期女孩气味处理的影响

介绍

青春期在不同阶段对大脑的气味处理尚不十分清楚。这项研究旨在调查不同年龄的少女之间大脑处理令人愉悦和难闻气味的差异。

方法

11名9-10岁的女孩和20名15-16岁的女孩参加了功能磁共振成像研究（1.5 T，重复时间2.5 s），其中两种气味（桃子和正丁醇）被被动地输送到受试者的鼻孔。记录对气味强度，愉悦性和熟悉度的心理物理测量。

结果

与年长的女孩相比，年轻的女孩对桃味的了解较少。在年轻与较年长的女孩中观察到梨状皮层，杏仁核，双侧岛突皮质，前扣带回皮层和背侧纹状体（尾状和壳状核）的大脑激活更强，而在较大的女孩中，嗅觉区域没有比年轻的女孩更好的激活参与者。

结论与启示

这些发现表明两个年龄段女孩之间大脑激活模式的差异可能反映了青春期嗅觉的发展。