Background

Olfactory memory testing is a promising way to explore different aspects of smell-related abilities in healthy subjects as well as to diagnose various diseases associated with disorders of this type of memory. Despite the obvious value of olfactory memory assessments, few available methods enable its diagnosis.

New method

The aim of our study was to create a standardized research tool designed for olfactory memory studies: an extended, 32-item version of an available “Test for Odor Memory”.

Results

The study involving 222 subjects revealed satisfactory psychometric qualities of TOM-32, and – as hypothesized – subjects with depression scored significantly lower than healthy participants. We additionally showed that TOM-32 scores was associated with sex, age and olfactory awareness. Women performed significantly better than men, young people tended to have lower false alarm rate than older subjects and olfactory awareness was positively associated with olfactory memory.

Comparison with existing method(s)

TOM-32 could expand the possibilities of testing olfactory memory. It may offer additional information about cognitive and sensory abilities relative to existing research tools, and the large number of included test items may facilitate repeated and longitudinal testing. Wide range of applied odors increases the possibility to detect subtle differences between, as well as changes within, individuals.

Conclusions

We present an extensive olfactory memory test with satisfactory psychometric qualities – a test that is comprehensive enough to show significant inter- and intra-individual differences, but time-efficient enough to be comfortable in daily research and clinical usage.

中文翻译：

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TOM-32-用于评估嗅觉记忆的扩展测试。

背景

嗅觉记忆测试是探索健康受试者中与气味相关的能力的不同方面以及诊断与此类记忆障碍相关的各种疾病的有前途的方法。尽管嗅觉记忆评估具有明显的价值，但几乎没有可用的方法可以对其进行诊断。

新方法

我们研究的目的是创建一个专为嗅觉记忆研究设计的标准化研究工具：可用的“气味记忆测试”的扩展的32个项目。

结果

这项针对222名受试者的研究表明，TOM-32的心理测量质量令人满意，并且-假设-抑郁症受试者的得分明显低于健康受试者。我们还表明，TOM-32得分与性别，年龄和嗅觉意识有关。女性的表现明显好于男性，年轻人的误报率往往比老年受试者低，嗅觉意识与嗅觉记忆正相关。

与现有方法的比较

TOM-32可以扩展测试嗅觉记忆的可能性。相对于现有研究工具，它可能会提供有关认知和感觉能力的其他信息，其中包含的大量测试项目可能会促进重复和纵向测试。广泛的施加气味增加了检测个体之间细微差异以及个体内部变化的可能性。

结论

我们提供了具有令人满意的心理测验质量的广泛的嗅觉记忆测试，该测试足够全面，可以显示出个体之间和个体之间的显着差异，但是时间效率高，足以适应日常研究和临床使用。